The Marauders and the Harry Potter Books
by Snowdevils
Summary: Laugh along with the Marauders as they look back on their childhood, and make hilarious comments about the future.
1. Default Chapter

Dear Mr. Potter,  
  
As you already know, you as well as Miss Evans have been chosen as this years head students. As head boy and girl, you both have to enforce rules and set a good example for the student body. As we both know you and Miss Evans aren't on the best of terms, this creates a problem. It is necessary for our head students to at least be on speaking terms to help guide the student body, especially in Lord Voldermort's rise to power. This is the reason as to why I am writing this letter. To ensure that you and Miss Evans can get along, I have decided it best that Miss Evans spend the remainder of the summer holidays in your home. I hope that you both shall use this time wisely, or I may be forced to choose another head boy and girl. Miss Evans will be arriving at your house on the second of August, around noon time by floo powder. Best of luck!  
  
Professor Dumbledore  
  
James Potter couldn't believe his eyes; Lily Evans was going to be spending the rest of the holidays with him. The Lily Evans that he has had a crush on since third year, the Lily Evans who hated everything about him was going to be forced to spend time with him. This was too good to be true.  
  
"Sirius," the messy haired boy yelled up the stairs. He needed to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.  
  
"You called," answered Sirius in a sarcastic tone, while he rushed down the stairs.  
  
James thrust the letter into the boys face, who read the piece of parchment, before looking up and saying, "Dumbledore must really like you."  
  
"What makes you say that," asked James.  
  
"Well first of all, he made you head boy alongside Evans, even though you're the biggest trouble maker in school. And now he is doing what you have wanted since you were in third year, he is forcing you both to get along," Sirius said, as if he were stating the obvious.  
  
"Your right," stated James, "Dumbledore is a God. This is a dream come true!"  
  
"More like a nightmare," stated Lily angrily as she walked into the room "Your early," exclaimed James in a surprised voice.  
  
"No, I'm right on time," replied the red headed girl in an annoyed voice.  
  
"It's the second already," asked James stupidly.  
  
"Yes, or I wouldn't be here," retorted Lily, "But since Dumbledore insists we need to get along, or as he says, I'll be forced to take away your position, so I was forced to come."  
  
"And God forbid that you loose your badge," Sirius interjected in a sarcastic tone.  
  
Just then James' mother, Hannah Potter came into the room and turned to her son, "Don't just stand around James, show our guest around. Don't be rude."  
  
"Yes mum," James answered.  
  
***  
  
No wonder your so arrogant Potter, this huge house of your helps feed that overlarge ego of yours," exclaimed Lily, about an hour later.  
  
"Who said we were finished, Lily flower, you still need to see the library," James stated as he ignored Lily's comment and opened the doors to the library.  
  
As Lily stepped in she gasped as she looked around, "Wow, this place is..."  
  
"Huge, I know," interrupted James with a smug look on his face, "It's bigger than the one at Hogwarts. My dad says it contains every book ever made. He even reckons he seen books from the future somewhere."  
  
"Can I look around," asked Lily wanting to get a closer look.  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"James, sweetie, Remus is here," Mrs. Potter announced as she let Remus walk into the large library to greet his friends.  
  
"Hey guys."  
  
"Remus shouldn't you be resting, the full moon was a few days ago," questioned Sirius, concerned for his friend.  
  
"I'm fine, besides my parents got called away on business, so I get to stay here the remainder of the summer," explained the sandy haired boy.  
  
"Excellent," exclaimed James, obviously glad his friend was there.  
  
"So why are we in the library," asked Remus, since neither of the two boys liked to read.  
  
"Oh we were showing Lily around," James explained.  
  
"Lily Evans," repeated Remus in obvious disbelief.  
  
"The one and only,"  
  
"So lily finally decided to go out with you," questioned Remus.  
  
"Hell no," Lily yelled from behind a bookshelf. "She's here on Dumbledore's orders, not that James cares," explained Sirius to a baffled looking Remus.  
  
"Well this should be an interesting summer," stated Remus, "Where's Peter, anyway?"  
  
"He's in Spain with his aunt," answered James.  
  
"Hey Potter," interrupted Lily, "You know how your dad said that there were books from the future in your library."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, I think I found some," responded Lily while handing him a stack of five books.  
  
James took the top book and opened it to the copy right date, "Made in 1997."  
  
Sirius now interested in the supposed books from the future, grabbed the book from James and read the title, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling.  
  
"Maybe James is somehow related to this Harry Potter," Remus stated.  
  
"Well let's read and find out," said an excited James.  
  
"I thought you guys hated reading," Lily questioned the boys.  
  
"We do, but these books sound interesting and I'm bored." Sirius explained.  
  
"Who wants to start reading?"  
  
"I will," offered Remus as he picked up the book and opened it to the first page. 


	2. The Boy Who Lived: Part One

**Chapter 0ne: The Boy Who Lived**

"Interesting title," stated Sirius.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Private Drive,**

"Isn't it sort of stupid to give away your address to people you barely know," asked James.

Remus nodded his head in agreement, "yes, just imagine if You-Know-Who happened upon this thing."

**Were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

"Actually, I find it to be rather un-normal to say that your normal," supplied Sirius.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved or mysterious, because they just didn't hold for such nonsense.**

"How boring," exclaimed Sirius.

"Absolutely no imagination," continued James.

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

"Drills?" James asked, while the rest of the present Maruaders held a confused look on their face. "What's that?"

"A type of muggle tool," answered Lily, who was muggle born, and knew everything about muggles and their world. "It puts holes and nails in wood."

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache.**

"This guy sounds familiar," Lily muttered to herself.

**Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck.**

"Sounds like my sister Petunia," stated Lily, with a disgusted look on her face.

**Which came in very useful, as she spent most of her time craning her neck over the garden fence, spying on the neighbors.**

**The Dursleys also had a small son called Dudley.**

"What kind of name is Dudley?" laughed Sirius.

**And in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

"All parents say that about their children," stated Remus.

"Not mine," scowled Sirius.

"Who cares what they think pal, their evil gits anyway," James said, trying to comfort his friend.

"Tell me about it," responded Sirius

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted,**

"How nice," said Remus, his voice sarcastic.

**But they also had a secret,**

"As does the rest of the population," James said.

**and their greatest fear would be that someone would discover it.**

"That's usually why it's a secret," Remus said.

**They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"Hey, what's wrong with the Potters," yelled James angrily.

"Where should I start," began Lily, getting ready to list everything she found wrong with James. But Remus, who sensed trouble, quickly began to read.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister,**

"Lily didn't you say that this Dursley woman sounded like..." started a hopeful James, before Lily interrupted, "Don't even think it Potter."

**but they hadn't met for years; in fact Mrs. Dursley pretended she have a sister,**

"That's mean," mentioned Sirius.

"If this woman is anything like Petunia, it's a blessing," stated Lily.

"So you're admitting..." James began in a sing-song voice.

"I said don't think it Potter!" Lily screeched angrily, causing the boys to grimace at her tone.

**because her sister and her good-for-nothing**

"Everyone's got to be good for something," James stated.

"Not You-Know-Who," Remus corrected.

"That's true."

**husband were as unDursleyish**

"UnDursleyish is not a word," complained Remus in an intelligent manner.

"Ah Moony don't go start acting all smart on us now. It's the holidays, relax." whined Sirius.

**as it was possible to be. **

"Who would want to be like them anyway?" questioned James.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what would happen if the Potters arrived in the street.**

"I shudder to think what would happen if you arrived in my street," joked James.

**The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son,**

"Maybe their son is Harry," stated Remus.

"Harry? Whose that?" James asked.

"Harry Potter," Remus replied pointing to the name on the cover.

James flushed a bit at his lapse in memory, "right, forgot about that one."

**too, but they had never even seen him.**

"That's a relief."

**This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"How would they know this kid is bad, if they haven't even met him?" asked Lily.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts**,

"I thought it started at the beginning of the chapter," said Sirius stupidly.

**There was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country.**

"Usually the sky can't predict those types of things," informed Remus.

"Not according to the centaurs," James said.

**Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,**

"Ah, choose an exciting tie," encouraged James, "Live a little."

**and Mrs. Dursley gossiped**

"It's rude to gossip," scolded Sirius.

**away happily as she wrestled**

"A lion," offered Sirius.

"A tiger," continued James.

"And bears," finished Remus, before they all chanted, "Oh my!"

**A screaming Dudley into his highchair.**

"Brat," muttered everyone.

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"The muggles never do," said Remus, "They only see what they want to see."

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss a Dudley good-bye but missed**

"And fell flat on his ugly face," joked Sirius, causing everyone to laugh.

**because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

"Brat," muttered everyone.

"**Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley**

"Sounds more like spoiled brat to me," stated Remus.

**as he left the house. He got into his car**

"Car? What's that," asked all three of the Marauders.

"A type of muggle transportation," answered Lily in a matter of fact tone.

**and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar,**

"Peculiar things are cool," exclaimed a hyper Sirius.

**a cat reading a map.**

"What's wrong with that," asked a curious James.

"In the muggle world cats can't read," retorted Lily.

"That's too bad," both James and Sirius said.

**For a second Mr. Dursley hadn't realized what he had seen- then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat**

"Isn't McGonagall a tabby cat in her animagi form," asked James.

"Yeah," responded Remus, "Maybe it's her."

**standing on the corner of Privet drive, but there wasn't a map in sight.**

"What do you think," started Sirius, "Of course she put it away, she couldn't risk revealing her self to a muggle."

**It must have been a trick of the light.**

"Yeah right," laughed James.

**Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat.**

"I love that game," Sirius informed the rest of the group.

"What game," asked Remus?

"Oh, you know, the game where two people stare at each other, and the first person to blink or laugh looses," Sirius explained, "I always loose though."

**It stared back.**

"I hope the cat wins," Sirius said, as he crossed his fingers.

**As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror.**

"Car crash waiting to happen," scolded Lily.

**It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive, no looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.**

James and Sirius opened their mouths to comment, but Lily knowing what they were going to say, said, "Don't even think it, we already went over this!"

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind.**

"That was quick," laughed Sirius.

**As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

"How exciting," muttered a sarcastic James.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else.**

"Boy is this guy easily distracted," noted Remus.

**As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam,**

"That's the problem with muggle transportation, its slow," stated James, "In the wizarding world you can get from one place to another, via floo or aparation in a matter of seconds without the wait."

**he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"What's wrong with that? People dress in cloaks all the time," said Sirius.

"In the muggle world, you usually don't see people dressed in cloaks," responded an annoyed Lily.

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes-**

"First of all cloaks aren't funny," retorted James, "And secondly some people can't bear stuck up snobs like you."

"Good one," Sirius complimented as he high-fived James.

**the getups you saw on young people!**

"Hey, old people wear cloaks too, you know," stated James, while Lily smacked her head in an annoyed fashion.

**He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.**

"Nope, wizards have been wearing robes for centuries," informed Sirius in an important voice.

Lily opened her mouth to comment, but Remus interrupted her instead, "Don't bother, they won't listen."

**He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of those weirdoes**

"I resent that comment," snapped Sirius.

"You're the one that's a weirdo Dursley," added James.

**Quite close by they were whispering excitedly together.**

"I wonder why," wondered Lily.

**Mr. Dursley was enraged to see a couple of them weren't young at all;**

"Told ya," chorused both James and Sirius.

**why that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak!**

"Emerald green is my favorite color," said James dreamily as he looked at Lily.

"Oh gee, I wonder why," teased Sirius while a slight blush could be seen on Lily's cheeks.

**The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley**

"He was hit by lighting," gasped Sirius in horror.

"No idiot, an idea," corrected Remus, "It wasn't even raining out."

**that this was probably some silly stunt- these people were obviously collecting for something...**

"You keep telling yourself that," said Remus, "and maybe it'll come true."

**yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on, and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window.

"Looks like it's time for a change," suggested James.

**in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have concentrate on drills that morning.**

"Doubt it," chorused everyone.

**He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight,**

"That's too bad," mentioned Lily, "I love watching all the owls swoop down at breakfast."

**though people down in the street did, they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped over-head.**

"That's odd," stated Remus.

"What makes you say that," asked James.

"Usually wizards try to stay hidden so the muggles won't notice them," Explained Remus, "But now there exposing themselves so much, that the muggles are going to know something's up."

"That is sort of odd."

**Most of them had never even seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning.**

"Good for him," stated a sarcastic Sirius.

**He yelled at five different people.**

"I feel bad for those people," said James in a sympathetic voice.

"I know, imagine all that spit the guy must of spat in people's faces," added Sirius, before all the Marauders started laughing. In the background Lily could be seen with a look of disgust on her face.

**He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.**

"Seems to me he likes shouting a bit too much," observe Remus.

"Yup!"

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

"A bun, for lunch," scolded Lily, "A little un healthy, isn't it?"

"That's why its so good." stated Sirius.

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the bakery. He eyed them angrily as he passed.**

"That's a rude thing to do," Lily scolded, "Even if they do look a little different."

**He didn't know why but they made him uneasy. This bunch was whispering excitedly.**

"What about."

**too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin.**

"What would they be collecting for anyway," asked James.

"Charity," Lily responded.

**It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

"It's also rude to eavesdrop," stated Sirius, "This family sure is rude, first spying and now eavesdropping. Tsk tsk."

**"The Potters, that right, that's what I heard-**"

"What," asked James excitedly, "What about the Potters?"

**"-yes their son Harry-"**

"What about him," James wondered, "What's good eavesdropping if you don't even get all the facts."

"Well we know that this is probably the Harry Potter in the title," informed Remus, "And that he probably did something big or important if everyone's talking about him."

"Yeah, maybe he was the person to defeat Voldermort," joked Sirius, not knowing how close to the truth he actually was.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead.**

"Cool," exclaimed Sirius.

"It's only a figure of speech, Sirius," stated Remus.

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

"Don't be shy," encouraged James, "Ask them, don't chicken out. If you do, then we won't know what they were talking about."

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his sectary not to disturb him, seized the telephone, and almost finished dialing his home number**

"What's a telephone," asked the Marauders.

"A muggle device for communicating without having to write," explained Lily.

"Like how we use the fire," asked Remus.

"Sort of," said Lily, "But a phone is electronic instead."

**when he changed his mind.**

"Why," questioned both James and Sirius.

"Let me read and we'll find out," snapped Remus.

**He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking...**

"People actually do that when they think," asked James.

"I guess," responded everyone else.

**no, he was being stupid.**

"Well, if you say so," joked Sirius.

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter with a son called Harry.**

"I doubt it," stated James.

**Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure if his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

"Which all can be shortened to Harry," informed Lily.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got upset at any mention of her sister.**

"Why does she hate her sister so much," wondered Remus.

"Don't know."

**He didn't blame her, if he'd had a sister like that... but, all the same, those people in cloaks...**

**He found it harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon.**

"He's making a big deal out of nothing," stated James.

"I know," continued Sirius, "Just because they wear cloaks and talk about the Potters, doesn't mean there going to kill him or anything." and when he left the building at five o' cloak, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.

"Fight, fight, fight," chanted the boys with there fists in the air, while Lily scrowled in the background.

**"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground.**

"If it was me Dursley had bumped into, he would be crying for mercy by now," James bragged.

"Well duh," snapped Lily, "You hex anyone that walks in the same halls as you."

"That was once," defended James, "And besides Sirius dared me to do it."

"Don't you dare drag me in to this," said Sirius unnoticed.

"Well would you do anything Sirius told you to."

"Probably!"

"And moving on," interrupted Remus while he had the chance.

**On the contrary, his face split into a huge smile.**

"Awww," whined Sirius, "I was hoping for a fight."

**and he said in a squeaky voice that made passerby stare,**

"Tsk, Tsk," scolded Sirius, "It's rude to stare."

"**Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even muggles like you should be celebrating this happy, happy day!"**

"Read that again, Moony," ordered James.

And so the sounds of Remus's voice was heard reading the line again, before it was followed by a silent room filled with shock. Then as fast as they went silent they started to jump, dance and celebrate how happy they were to know that the dark lord was finally gone.

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

"Ewww," said everyone in a disgusted voice.

"Who would want to hug Dursley," stated Sirius.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger**.

"We can't believe it either," Sirius said.

**He also thought he had been called a muggle**

"You were," responded James, "Don't worry, you're not hearing things."

**whatever that was**

"Non-magic folk," informed Sirius.

**He was rattled.**

"Cool," exclaimed Sirius.

"Not literally, Sirius," said an annoyed Lily. "It's another figure of speech."

"Aw," whined Sirius. "That's too bad."

**He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imaging things, which he never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"That's no fun," whined James.

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw-**

"I bet it's the cat from this morning," stated Remus.

**and it didn't improve his mood- was the tabby cat**

"Told ya," bragged Remus.

**he spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall.**

"Why, out of all the garden walls in England, did this cat decide to sit on this particular garden wall all day," asked Lily.

"Who knows," answered James.

**He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"Definitely McGonagall," said James.

"Definitely," everyone agreed.

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. **

"And you don't want to be on the other end of that glare," informed Sirius. "Because it only means trouble."

"And you boys know all about trouble," stated Lily, "You've probably gotten the record for most detentions or something."

"Oh we got that a long time ago," James said proudly, "That was a good day and it only took 1,224 detentions."

**was this normal cat behavior?**

"For McGonagall, It is" responded Sirius.

**Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

"Darn," whined James, "I was hoping Mr. Dursley was going to get yelled at."

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's**

"She doesn't even know her own neighbor's name," scolded Lily.

**problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").**

"And they think the neighbors have problems," laughed James.

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed,**

"Probably after a bunch of screaming and crying," muttered Remus.

"Probably."

**he went into the living room, in time to watch the last report on the evening news.**

"Boring," Sirius complained.

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight,**

"Blah, blah, blah," complained Sirius, "We already knew all this."

**there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise.**

"Again," stated Sirius, "We already knew all this."

"Shut-up!" screamed everyone in Sirius' general direction.

"I can see some people woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," muttered Black.

**Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed sleeping patterns.**

"What's with scientists, and always needing to find an answer," questioned Lily.

**The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

"You call that a joke," said James, amused at the poor attempt.

"Lame," continued Sirius.

**"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a down pour of shooting stars!"**

"Cool," chorused Everyone.

"I love shooting stars," stated Lily. "They're very pretty."

**"Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early-**

"Nope, it's just us wizards celebrating the defeat of You-Know-Who," cheered Sirius.

**its not until next week folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

"Well that's not good," moaned James, "You can't celebrate in the rain."

"Stupid weather," complained Sirius.

"You can still party inside," stated Lily.

"But it's not the same," whined James.

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair.**

"It's just an expression Sirius," explained Lily before Sirius could comment.

**Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? and a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...**

"Over-reacting a bit isn't he," stated Lily.

"Yup," responded the Marauders.

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living carrying two cups of tea, it was no good. He'd have to say something to her.**

"Not a good idea," stated Lily.

**He cleared hid throat nervously. "Err- Petunia,**

"Hey Lily didn't you say you had a sister named Petunia," asked a hopeful James.

"Yeah, so," snapped Lily.

"Well that means we could be married," exclaimed James.

"In your dreams Potter," stated Lily, "This is probably a different Petunia, there probably loads of them."

"Yeah, but..." started James.

"Just drop it James, she's not going to give in," whispered Sirius.

"Alright," said a defeated James.

**dear- you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry.

"Their over-reacting again," stated Sirius.

**After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

"You can't just ignore your sister, no matter how hard you try." stated Lily, "Trust me, I've tried and failed miserably in each attempt."

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"Uh-oh," muttered everyone.

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny- looking people in town today..."**

"**So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

"Told ya it was a bad idea."

**"Well I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with, you know... her crowd.**

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips.**

"How is that even possible," asked Sirius.

**Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter".**

"Better not," decided Sirius.

**He decided he didn't dare.**

"Maybe he is smarter than we originally thought," suggested James.

"Nah," said everyone, shaking their heads.

**Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son- he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

"**What's his name again? Howard isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty common name if you ask me."**

"Hey I like that name," said James, defending the name.

"Besides, no one even asked you," continued Sirius.

"**Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

"Well, you would," stated James.

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there.**

"It must be waiting for something," guessed Remus.

"But what would it be waiting for," asked James.

**It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

"To late Dursley," stated Sirius. "We already figured that out."

**Was he imaging things?**

"Nope!"

**Could all this have anything to do with the Potters?**

"I knew I was popular," said James. "But I didn't realize I was this popular."

"And you say you aren't conceited," said Lily.

**If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of- well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

"Well, I don't think I could bear it, if it got out that I was related to you," retorted James.

"Who even said you were the Potters they were talking about," questioned Lily.

"Well, no one in my family is related to muggles as of yet." explained James. "So it's only obvious that it's me and you there talking about."

"Who said it was me you married," snapped Lily.

"Well," started James.

"Never mind," interrupted Lily. "Keep reading Remus."

**The Dursleys got into bed, Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley.**

"Which usually means that there going to have a run-in some time soon," guessed Lily.

"I hope we don't," stated James.

**The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia**

"Don't even say it Potter," snapped Lily, as James went to make a comment.

"But..." started James.

"I said don't,"

**thought about them and their kind... he couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on-**

"Which means they probably will," stated Remus.

"Yup!"

**he yawned and turned over- it couldn't affect them. How very wrong he was.**

"Told ya," bragged Remus.


	3. The Boy Who Lived: Part Two

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting off into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of privet drive.**  
  
"Its determined not to miss what it's waiting for," stated James.  
  
"Looks like it."  
  
**It didn't so   
much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, or when two owls swooped overhead. In fact it was nearly midnight before the cat move at all.**

"About time too," said Sirius.  
  
**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, he appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground.**  
  
"He probably did," mentioned Remus.  
  
"Yup, it's called apparation," informed Sirius.  
  
**The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**  
  
"Looks like what the cat has been waiting for has finally arrived," James guessed.  
  
**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt.**  
  
"Dumbledore," gasped everyone in awe.  
  
"What's he doing on Privet Drive?" asked James.  
  
"I don't know."  
  
**He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high- heeled, buckle boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind his half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.**  
  
"Did he actually break his nose," asked Sirius. "Or was it just always like that."  
  
"How would we know," snapped Remus. "What, do you think we went up to Dumbledore and said, 'we've been wondering did you break your nose a couple of times, or was it just always that crooked.'"  
  
"Geeze, don't throw a hissy fit, I was just asking," Sirius defended.  
  
**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**  
  
"No need to tell us," stated James. "We figured that out a long time ago."

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**  
  
"Trust me, he knows he's unwelcome," Remus informed. "He's just choosing to ignore that fact."  
  
**He was rummaging in his cloak looking for something. But he did seem to realize that he was being watched,**  
  
"That's not a surprise," muttered James. "That man never misses a thing."  
  
**because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him.**  
  
"Well of course it did," said Sirius. "Everything amuses Dumbledore."  
  
"Or it could have to do with the fact that he know its Professor McGonagall, and not a cat," Lily stated.  
  
"Well, that too," muttered Sirius.  
  
**He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**  
  
**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter.**  
  
"What's a cigarette lighter," the Marauders asked.  
  
"A thing used to light cigarettes," Lily informed the boys.  
  
"Oh!" they responded, still looking confused.  
  
**He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**  
  
"Cool," exclaimed everyone.  
  
**He clicked it again- the next lamp flickered into darkness, twelve times he clicked the Put-outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two twinkling pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him.**  
  
"Boy, whatever Dumbledore is doing there, he sure is going through a lot of trouble to make sure it's kept a secret," said James.  
  
"Yup, he sure is."  
  
**If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the put-outer**   
  
"Is it actually called that," asked Sirius.  
  
"I'm not sure."  
  
**back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four,**  
  
"Why would he want to go there?"  
  
**where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.  
**  
"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."  
  
**"We knew it," everyone screamed. He turned to smile at the tabby cat, but it had gone.  
**  
"What, where," asked a confused Sirius.  
  
"Try, she turned back into a human again," responded Lily.  
  
"Oh, that explains it."  
  
**Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had around its eyes.**  
  
"If McGonagall were to get new glasses, would the markings around her eyes change," Sirius questioned.  
  
"I doubt it."  
  
**She too was wearing a cloak, an emerald one.**  
  
"Did I tell you that my favorite color is emerald green," asked James.  
  
"Yes, James, only a million times," answered the rest of the Marauders in a bored voice before Sirius did an impression of him. "Emerald green is my favorite color, because it's the exact color of Lily's eyes." Remus and Sirius started laughing, while Lily and James blushed.  
  
**Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun.  
**  
"Does she ever wear her hair any differently," asked James.  
  
"Nope!"  
  
**She looked distinctly ruffled.**  
  
"Why?"  
  
**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**  
  
"No else can sit that stiffly," responded Sirius.  
  
**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."  
**  
Everyone looked at Sirius.  
  
"What?" asked Sirius dumbly, "Do I have something in my teeth?"  
  
**"You'd be stiff if you'd have been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**  
  
**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."  
**  
"I love parties," said James. "But it's kind of hard to imagine Dumbledore at a party, dancing and having fun."  
  
"He doesn't seem like the party type of a guy," agreed Remus.  
  
**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily,**  
  
"That's because she's a party-pooper," stated Sirius.  
  
"She never lets us have parties, even after we win a Quidditch match," continued James, "She always puts a stop to them."  
  
**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be more careful, but no- even the muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at he Dursley's living room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent- I'll bet that was Dedulas Diggle. He never had much sense."**  
  
"Geese, loosen up McGonagall, live a little," James encouraged.  
  
"**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."  
**  
"You can say that again," said Remus.  
  
Sirius opened his mouth to repeat the last line read, but instead Lily interrupted him. "It was a figure of speech. You really need to learn the difference between the two."  
  
**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to loose our heads."**  
  
"Actually, it is," Sirius stated.  
  
**People are being down right careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**  
  
"Why aren't they in wizard homes or establishments anyway," Lily asked.  
  
"Don't know."  
  
**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to say something,**  
  
"What would he say?"  
  
**but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, they found out about us all.**  
  
"Even if the muggles did notice something," stated Remus. "They don't have enough common sense to put it all together."  
  
**I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**  
  
"Why would anybody be celebrating if he hadn't disappeared," questioned Sirius.  
  
"It might have been a miss-understanding."  
  
"I doubt that."  
  
**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for.**  
  
"You got that right," everyone agreed.  
  
**Would you care for a lemon drop?"**  
  
"A what?" asked the Marauders.  
  
"It's a type of muggle candy that tastes like lemons," Lily responded.  
  
**"A what?"**  
  
"Don't worry Professor, we didn't know what it was either," said Sirius.   
  
**"A Lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**  
  
**"No, thank-you." said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think it was the moment for lemon drops.**  
  
"McGonagall never thinks it's time for anything that's good or fun," Sirius whined.  
  
"Not true," Lily countered. "She's a big supporter of Gryffindor Quiddatch team."  
  
"So, that's only because she wants to beat the lousy, no good Slytherins." Sirius said.  
  
"Plus, everyone wants to beat Slytherin," mentioned James.  
  
**"As I was saying even if You-Know-Who has gone-"**  
  
**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name?  
**  
"There's nothing to fear in a name, it's just a word," Lily stated   
  
**All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense- for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldermort." Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying You-Know- Who.**  
  
"You got that right," stated Sirius. "Some people don't know who."  
  
**I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldermort's name."**  
  
"It's not like every time someone says his name he's automatically going to appear," said Remus.  
  
"Exactly!"  
  
**"I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right; Voldermort,**  
  
"Good job Professor, that's the first step in order to get over your fear." cheered James.  
  
**was frightened of."  
**  
"So that's why everyone always says Hogwarts is so safe," asked Sirius stupidly. "Because Dumbledore's headmaster and Voldermort is afraid of him."  
  
"Duh," said Remus. "You didn't know that."  
  
**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldermort had powers I will never have."**  
  
"And that's only because Dumbledore would only use his powers for good, not bad," Remus added.  
  
**"Only because you're too- well- noble to use them."**  
  
"See!"  
  
**"It's lucky it's dark, I haven't blushed so much since Madam Promfey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**  
  
"That would be something to see," laughed Sirius. "Dumbledore blushing."  
  
**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore   
**  
"Why?" asked Sirius.  
  
**and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**  
  
"No, tell us," chorused everyone on the edge of their seats.  
  
**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss,  
**  
"This is what were most anxious to read about." agreed James.   
  
**The real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat, nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now.**  
  
"This must be some rumor then," guessed Remus.  
  
"Looks like it," Lily agreed.  
  
**It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she wasn't going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**  
  
"He's obsessed," stated James.  
  
"Sure is!"  
  
** b What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldermort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters.  
**  
Everyone was silent with a look of anticipation and fear on their faces.  
  
**The rumor is that Lily and James Potter.  
**  
Lily gasped in complete horror, while James did a little dance while repeating, "She likes me, she really likes me!" over and over.  
  
After James calmed down, he said, "Lily do you know what this means?"  
  
"It's the end of the world," Lily moaned.  
  
"No, you can't resist me."  
  
"In your dreams Potter!"  
  
"Oh don't worry Evans, you are."  
  
** b are- are- that they're- dead,"**  
  
Everyone sat in silence mourning the loss of their friends.  
  
"**Lily and James...I can't believe it... I don't want to believe it...**  
  
"Neither do we, neither do we," said Sirius sadly.  
  
**Dumbledore reached out ant patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know..." he said heavily.  
**  
**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all.**  
  
"What else could there possibly be," wondered Lily.  
  
**"They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry.  
**  
"That's going a little too far. Trying to kill a little boy, who never did anything to you, is just cruel and inhumane," Lily scolded.  
  
"This is horrible, I don't like this book," whined Sirius. "It's too sad."  
  
"Well no matter how sad it is, we started and were going to finish."  
  
B**ut he couldn't   
**  
"Thank goodness," James exclaimed.  
  
"Serves him right too, trying to kill a little boy," Lily added.  
  
**He couldn't kill the little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldermort's power somehow broke- and that's why he's gone."  
  
Dumbledore agreed glumly**.  
  
"Wow, my son not only survived Voldermort, which no one has ever done before, but he also defeated," said James proudly. "We have an amazing son!"  
  
"Yup!" agreed everyone.   
  
**'s- it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy?**  
  
"Why couldn't he kill Harry anyway?" Lily questioned.  
  
"Who cares," stated James. "All that matters is that he couldn't kill him."  
  
**It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"   
  
"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**  
  
"Who's he kidding," said Sirius. "Dumbledore knows the answer to this, just like he knows everything else that's going on. He's just choosing not to tell."  
  
"Probably," James agreed.  
  
**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles.  
**  
"And all these years we thought she hated you James," mentioned Remus.  
  
**Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead little planets were moving around the edge.  
**  
"Cool," muttered everyone.  
  
**It must have made sense to Dumbledore,**  
  
"Well duh," said Sirius. "Or he wouldn't be using it."  
  
**though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**  
  
"Why would Hagrid be coming?" asked Lily.  
  
"Don't know!"  
  
**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you are here of all places?"**  
  
"Good question!"  
  
**ve come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**  
  
"What!" screamed everyone.  
  
"You have got to be kidding me," screeched Lily. "My sister hates everything to do with me and the magical world. She'll torture him, she'll do anything to make sure that Harry feels worthless."  
  
"Wouldn't we have left him to one of the Marauders in case we died?" asked James.  
  
"Doesn't look like it does it."  
  
**"You don't mean- you can't mean the people who live here?"**  
  
"Our thoughts exactly!"  
  
**cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four.  
**  
"It's rude to point," Sirius scolded.  
  
"But it's not rude to point at an object," stated Lily.  
  
"Well since she's pointing at the Dursley's house, which the Dursleys are now in, technically as she points at the house she is pointing at the Dursleys as well. Which goes back to my original point that it is rude to point." explained Sirius.  
  
"You have a weird way of thinking," mentioned Remus.  
  
"I know," said Sirius proudly.  
  
"**Dumbledore- You can't.  
**  
"I agree," said Lily. "My son can not go and live with that horror that is called my sister."  
  
"But he is," said James sadly.  
  
**I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us.**  
  
"She's right again," agreed Lily. "My sister despises anything to do with magic. She won't even watch movies with magic in them."  
  
"I couldn't imagine a life without magic."  
  
"**Me neither!" And they've got this son- I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets.**  
  
"Spoiled brat," muttered everyone.  
  
**Harry Potter come and live here!"  
  
"It's the best place for him,"  
**  
"How can you say that, you heard the woman. You couldn't find two people who are less like us," exclaimed an outraged James.  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
**said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older.  
**  
"They will be able to, doesn't mean they will though," retorted Lily.  
  
**I've written them a letter."**  
  
"He lost it," exclaimed Remus. "He really thinks he can explain all that has happened in a letter?"  
  
"I guess he does."  
  
**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?**  
  
"Our thoughts exactly," stated Sirius.  
  
**These people will never understand him!**  
  
"Petunia doesn't even understand me let alone like me," stated Lily.  
  
"That's too bad," said James sympathetically.  
  
"Oh, I could car less what she thinks of me."  
  
**He'll be famous- a legend- I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future- there will be books written about Harry- every child in our world will know his name."**  
  
"Cool!" the Marauders exclaimed.  
  
"No, not cool," Lily disagreed.  
  
"Why do you say that?"  
  
"Because, this poor boy is going to be famous for something he can't remember, and then he's going to have to live with the fact that he survived when his parents didn't," Lily explained.  
  
"So, his being famous is going to be a burden instead of a blessing for him," guessed Remus.  
  
"Exactly!"  
  
"Well, then maybe his being famous for this isn't that great," said James. "But it'd still be cool to be famous."  
  
**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half- moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head.  
**  
"Well, if he's James' son, he'll already be arrogant," said Lily.  
  
"He's your son too," stated James.  
  
"Well than he may have a chance to be normal after all then," joked Lily.  
  
**Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"  
**  
"I guess he does have a point," muttered James.  
  
"Yeah, I guess."  
  
**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes- yes, you're right of course, But how is the boy getting here Dumbledore?"**  
  
"Yeah, Dumbledore, how is Harry going to get there?" asked Remus.  
  
"As long as it's not Hagrid or any death-eaters, I'm fine with it." stated Lily.  
  
"What's wrong with Hagrid?"  
  
"Nothing he's just a bit careless at times," Lily explained.  
  
"That is true."  
  
**She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.  
**  
"That would be a cool magic trick," stated Sirius. "Being able to produce small children out of your cloak at your own will."  
  
**"Hagrid's bringing him."**  
  
"Well looks like it is Hagrid," said James.  
  
"Let's just hope he's careful." Lily hoped.  
  
**"You think it- wise- to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**  
  
"Our thoughts exactly," said Remus.  
  
"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**  
  
"Why didn't Dumbledore just bring Harry to the Dursley's himself," Lily wondered aloud.  
  
"Good question."  
  
**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless."  
**  
"What do you think we've been saying," said Sirius.   
  
**He does tend to- what was that?"**  
  
**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them.**  
  
"And here comes Hagrid," Sirius introduced dramatically.  
  
**It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky- and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**  
  
"Cool, a flying motorcycle," Sirius cheered. "I want one! I want one! I want one!"  
  
**If the motorcycle was huge it was nothing to the man who was sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide.  
**  
"That's because Hagrid's a half-giant," Remus informed.  
  
"He is," asked Sirius stupidly, while Remus nodded. "That explains it."  
  
**He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild- long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**  
  
"Please tell me he didn't forget Harry," Lily said.  
  
"Hagrid may be careless at times, but he wouldn't be stupid enough to forget something like a baby," assured Remus before adding. "Especially since Dumbledore is putting his trust in him."  
  
"I guess your right."  
  
**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**  
  
"Hopefully from me," said Sirius in a hopeful voice.  
  
**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant,**  
  
"Half giant," corrected Remus.  
  
"What did we say earlier Remus," Sirius scolded. "Its summer, not school. So there is to be no more correcting things or people."  
  
"Well, sorry," muttered Remus sarcastically.  
  
**climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me."  
**  
"I got one, I got one, I got one!" Sirius cheered jumping up and down.  
  
"**No problems, were there?"  
**  
**"No, sir- house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the muggles started swarmin' around.**  
  
"That's a relief," stated Lily.  
  
**He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."  
**  
"With a bike that makes that much noise, its a wonder how he even fell asleep," said James.  
  
"Well, it's been a big day for him, he's probably exhausted," Remus guessed.  
  
"Probably!"  
  
**Dumbledore and Professor** **McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair**   
  
"Looks like he inherited the Potter's messy hair gene," laughed Sirius.  
  
"The poor kid!" said Remus.  
  
"Hey!" retorted James. "You guys are supposed to be my friends."  
  
"Were not making fun of you," Sirius explained. "Were just stating the truth."  
  
**over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lighting .  
**  
"Cool!" everyone chorused.  
  
**"Is that where-?" whispered Professor McGonagall.  
  
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."  
**  
"Poor kid!"  
  
**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**  
  
"I hope so," said Lily.  
  
"Me too!"  
  
"Even if I could, I wouldn't.  
  
"That should be Harry's decision, not yours," said James.   
  
**Scars can come in handy.**  
  
"Oh no," moaned the Marauders.  
  
"What?" asked Lily.  
  
"He's talking about this scar he has above his knee off the Loudon underground." explained Remus. "It's a rather nasty story and hopefully he doesn't go into details."  
  
"How did you guys find out then?" questioned Lily.  
  
"Well Dumbledore was trying to teach us some kind of lesson or something like that," said James.  
  
"Were not sure what though, he can be a little out of it sometimes. If you know what I mean," continued Sirius.  
  
"Oh!"  
  
**I have one myself above my left knee that's a perfect map of the London Underground. Well- give him here,**  
  
"Oh good, he didn't go into the details," said a relieved Sirius. "I don't think I could live through that story again."  
  
"It must have been pretty bad then."  
  
"Oh it was!"  
  
**Hagrid- we'd better get it over with."  
**  
**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursley's house**.  
  
"No, no, no. He's supposed to turn in the opposite direction," whined Sirius.  
  
**"Could I- could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid.**  
  
"Aw, that's sweet," cooed Lily. "He's going to miss him."  
  
"Girls!"  
  
**He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must of been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss.**  
  
"I hope he didn't hurt him," said Lily.  
  
"How would he hurt him?" asked Sirius.  
  
"He could get scratched in the face." explained Lily.  
  
"I doubt that would happen." reassured James.  
  
"But it could."  
  
**Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**  
  
"A hurt dog. Where?" asked a worried Sirius. "They should go help him."  
  
"They said like a wounded dog," corrected Lily. "Not, look a wounded dog."  
  
**"Oh!" "Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall. "You'll wake the muggles!"**  
  
"Not to mention Harry," informed Remus.  
  
**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large spotted hander kerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it- Lily and James**   
  
"It's a nightmare isn't it," agreed Lily.  
  
"You seemed to like Harry, and he's our son." retorted James.  
  
"Well, just because I like my son, doesn't mean I have to like you," snapped Lily.  
  
"Well, you obviously going to have to like me at some point, or he wouldn't exist," stated James.  
  
"Well, that doesn't mean that I like you now," retorted Lily.  
  
"And moving on..." said Remus, before continuing to read.  
  
**dead   
**  
"I'm going to miss you James," sobbed Sirius.  
  
"Look on the bright side Sirius. I'm not dead yet," said James.  
  
"I guess that's true." responded Sirius.  
  
**an' poor little Harry off ter live with muggles-"**  
  
"And out of all of them, it has to be my magic hating, no imagination, thing they call my sister," said Lily.  
  
"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself Hagrid, or we'll be found."  
  
"I remember just a few minutes ago, you were the one that was crying," mentioned James.  
  
**Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep,**  
  
"He better put some sort of charm on him, to make sure he doesn't roll over and get hurt," ordered Lily.  
  
**Took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrids shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously,**  
  
"It's alright if you cry Professor, we won't think any less of you," Sirius encouraged.  
  
**and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**  
  
"That must mean he's really sad, or really, really mad," explained James.  
  
"And how would you know?" Lily questioned.  
  
"Well, whenever I and the rest of the Marauders play a prank we get called to his office," James explained. "And he'll tell us we need to act our age and all that mumbo jumbo, but his eyes are still twinkling, and we know he doesn't really mean it."  
  
"But when we do something horrible the twinkle in his eyes disappears, and we know not to do it again," continued Remus.  
  
"But since he's obviously not mad, he must be sad," observed Sirius.   
  
**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "That's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."  
**  
"Well I guarantee that's one place we won't be," stated Sirius.  
  
"On account were dead," said James, pointing to him and Lily.  
  
"And I'll be out looking for whoever gave you up to Voldermort," said Sirius.  
  
"And I'll be helping him," added Remus.  
  
"Wait how do you know someone betrayed us?" asked Lily.  
  
"Well Voldermort has some reason or another to go after his victims," explained Sirius. "So obviously someone tipped him off about you."  
  
"Oh!"  
  
**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice. "I'll be taking Sirius his bike back.**  
  
"Thanks," said Sirius. "But I'm probably already long gone."  
  
**G'night, Professor McGonagall- Professor Dumbledore, sir."  
  
Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.  
**  
"He shouldn't be driving when he's this upset," scolded Lily. "He could get hurt."  
  
**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Professor Dumbledore nodding to her.**  
  
"Obviously you'll see her soon, you both work at the same school," said Sirius.  
  
**Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**  
  
"How is that an answer," asked James. "It's either a yes or a no."  
  
"I'm assuming it was a yes."  
  
"Well, she should of just said that, then."  
  
**Dumbledore turned and walked down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver put-outer.**  
  
"Those could come in useful for pranks," stated James.  
  
"Yeah we could make the whole castle dark, so we wouldn't get caught," Sirius continued.  
  
"But where could we find one?"  
  
**He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street.  
**  
"Why didn't she just apparate?" asked Lily. "We know she can, Dumbledore did."  
  
"McGonagall's weird like that," responded Remus. "She doesn't like to do anything that could risk them being seen by muggles. Even if their all fast asleep."  
  
"Oh!"  
  
**He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**  
  
"Good luck, Harry," he murmured.  
  
"See even Dumbledore know that the Dursley are going to torture him," said Lily. "Why doesn't he just leave him with Remus or someone."  
  
"What about me?" whined Sirius.  
  
"Remus is more responsible," explained Lily.  
  
"As much as I would love to take care of Harry, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to anyway," stated Remus.  
  
"And why is that," asked Lily.  
  
"Just trust me, he would be better off with Sirius," responded Remus.  
  
"It doesn't matter anyway, Dumbledore decided to leave him with these freaks," said James. "And when Dumbledore makes a decision theirs no changing his mind."  
  
**He turned his heel and with a swish of his cloak he was gone.  
**  
**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen.  
**  
"But they already have," mentioned Remus. "And there's probably more to come."   
  
**Harry Potter rolled over in his blankets without waking up.**  
  
"Oh good," sighed Lily. "He didn't roll off the steps.  
  
**One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on,**  
  
"Didn't she just say about a sentence ago that he was still sleeping?" asked James.  
  
"Yes."  
  
**not knowing that he was special, not knowing he was famous,**  
  
"Well, you are Harry," stated Sirius. "For a very sad reason maybe, but it is also for a very good reason too."  
  
**not knowing he would be woken in a few hours time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles,**  
  
"Poor thing!"  
  
**nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley...**  
  
"My sister doesn't even teach her son right from wrong," scolded Lily. "So now her excuse for a son is going to grow up to be a bully. And my poor son will probably be his favorite target." He couldn't know at this very moment, people meeting in secret  
  
"It didn't look like they were meeting in secret this afternoon," observed Remus.  
  
"Nope!"  
  
**all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter- the boy who lived!"  
**  
"I'm really confused right now," stated Sirius.  
  
"Why's that?" asked James.  
  
"Well I'm really sad that you died. You're my best friend, I'm mean we have been through everything together, and I can't imagine things with out you," explained Sirius. "But on the other hand I'm happy that Voldermort is finally gone, but it only happened because you died and Harry's an orphan now, and it's all really confusing."  
  
"It's alright you feel happy that Voldermort's gone Sirius, I'm happy he's gone to, I don't blame you for feeling that way. I'm sure were all having mixed feelings on the subject." said James.  
  
"I feel the same way too Sirius," stated Remus.  
  
"We wouldn't want you to feel guilty or sad just because we died. We understand. Were just sorry that Harry has to live as an orphan, I wish we could see him grow up." added Lily.  
  
"Me too," agreed James. "But what's done is done. So don't feel guilty Sirius."  
  
"Ok, I guess."  
  
"Well, that was the end of the chapter," said Remus.  
  
"Turn the page then," ordered James in a lighter tone. "I want to see what happens to my son."


	4. The Vanishing Glass: Part One

**The Vanishing Glass **

"Harry must make some type of glass disappear or something," guessed Remus.

"And what makes you say that?" asked Sirius.

"Well usually glass doesn't just disappear into thin air for no reason," responded Remus.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step,**

"Meaning my little boy is about eleven," guessed Lily. "He'll be getting his letter soon."

"Little boy?" questioned James.

"Yes little boy, do you have a problem with that?" snapped Lily.

"No, no of course not." said James, shaking his head. "But you barely know the boy and your getting attached."

"Well, at least I care about him," retorted Lily.

"I care about him," defended James.

"Maybe you should act like it!"

"I... you... women," James groaned.

"Women!" agreed the Marauders

**but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all.**

"Oh here we go again," moaned Sirius. "Every single thing about this family that we've read so far is boring. Learn to live a little."

**The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursley's front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about owls.**

"Why do we need to know this?" asked Sirius. "What do we care that sun rose the exact same way every morning or whatever it says. Who cares!"

"I think the author is just a little detail happy," observed James.

**Only the photographs on the mantle piece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets.**

"Why would a beach ball wear a bonnet?" asked Sirius stupidly.

"They were talking about Dudley as a baby," Lily explained. "When he was little he looked like a beach ball."

"Then why didn't they just say that it was Dudley who was in the pictures?"

"Because the author chose to describe it like this." responded Remus.

**but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby.**

"Well obviously!"

"I bet he still acts like one though," laughed James.

**And now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother.**

"Where's Harry?" asked Lily.

"I probably rescued him from those dreadful muggles after I caught the person who betrayed," Sirius suggested.

"That's something to hope for," stated James.

**The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too. Yet Harry Potter was still there,**

"Why haven't I saved him by now?" asked Sirius.

"Maybe Dumbledore forbid it," suggested Remus.

"Do you really think Dumbledore could stop me from saving my best friend's son?" asked Sirius.

"No!"

"Something isn't right, I'm just not sure what," said Sirius in a worried voice.

"Don't worry about it Padfoot, it's not that a big of a deal," said James, trying to comfort his friend.

"But it is!"

**asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

"How pleasant," said Sirius sarcastically.

"Imagine waking up to it every morning," stated Lily. "Either she's complaining about magic, or accusing me for one thing or another. The first day I was able to do magic outside of school I gave her something to complain about alright."

"What did you do?"

"Just turned her into a toad for a day or two." said Lily like it was no big deal. "She learned not to wake me up in the morning."

**"Up!" Get up! Now!"**

"Remus do you actually have to sound like a women yelling when you read?" asked James. "It hurts my ears."

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"I think it adds to the story," stated Lily.

"You're just agreeing with him because I don't like it," retorted James.

"How did the way I read turn into an argument about you two?" questioned Remus.

"Just read!" snapped both James and Lily.

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

"Oh go away," said Sirius. "Or I'll turn you into a toad. But this time I won't turn you back."

**"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one.**

"Dreams usually are good, unless of course it turns into a nightmare," stated James.

**There had been a flying motorcycle in it.**

"Cool," exclaimed Sirius. "Harry likes flying motorcycles too."

**He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before**.

"Yeah, about ten years ago," Remus informed.

"How do you know?" asked Sirius.

"We just read about it, remember," responded Lily. "Hagrid brought Harry to the Dursleys on a flying motorcycle."

"Oh yeah!"

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

"Go away!" James demanded.

"**Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

"How can he not be with all your screaming and hollering to tell him to get up," stated Remus.

"**Nearly," said Harry.**

**"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn,**

"Then look after it yourself," retorted Sirius.

**I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"Duddy," laughed everyone.

"If you're going to have a nick name for a kid at least think of something reasonable," said James. "Not something that will scar him for life."

"Wait, we don't like the Dursleys, James," stated Sirius. "So we could care less if he was scared for the rest of his life."

"Good point!" exclaimed James. "Please continue to call your son Duddy or whatever else you may call him that is equally as revolting."

**Harry groaned.**

**"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

"Nothing," stated Sirius. "He groaned."

**"Nothing, nothing..."**

**Dudley's birthday- how could he have forgotten?**

"I'm guessing, very easily," guessed James.

**Harry got slowly out of bed **

"Excellent idea Harry," stated Lily. "Deliberately being slow, that is something that annoys Tuna to no end."

"Tuna?" questioned the Marauders.

"It's my pet name for her," explained Lily. "When she makes me mad I call her Tuna which is in the last part of her name, Petunia if you take out the i. You should see her face when I call her that, its priceless."

**and started looking for socks.**

"Look in the the dresser," said Sirius. "That's wear I keep my socks."

**He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them,**

"Yuck!" exclaimed a disgusted Lily. "I hate spiders."

"Why?"

"Well to begin with they have way too many legs. There creepy and crawly, and just plain scary." Lily explained.

"They're not that bad," stated James.

"Maybe not to you, but to me they are."

**put them on. Harry was used to spiders,**

"I wouldn't be able to get used to spiders if I lived with them in my room for 24-7." said Lily. "So this must be some boy thing."

"Looks like it!"

**because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them,**

"I don't like where this is going," said Lily with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Neither do I!" agreed James.

**and that is where he slept.**

"Oh, I'm going to kill her..." snapped Lily going into a long rant on various ways she could torture and kill her sister. One that is too long to list.

"That women is so lucky were not ghosts," added James. "Because I personally, would make their life a living hell."

"Where am I," whined Sirius. "I should be helping Harry, not letting him be tortured."

"I'm sure you both have your reasons," assured Lily.

"But..."

"The only one at fault here is my sister and her good-for-nothing family."

"And maybe You-Know-Who," added James.

"Him too!"

**When he dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen.**

"He should refuse to do absolutely nothing," said Sirius.

"Knowing my sister she'll beat him, starve him, lock him up, or all three if he doesn't obey them." stated Lily.

"Well maybe he should follow orders then, but 'accidentally' do magic on them while he's doing them." suggested Sirius.

"But he doesn't know he's wizard, so he can't just do magic whenever he feels like it," Remus pointed out.

"Do guys have to ruin all the fun," Sirius whined.

**The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's presents. It looked as though Dudley gotten the new computer **

"What's a computer?" asked the Marauders.

"A type of machine you can use to type, do research on, play games, and do ton of other stuff on," responded Lily.

"Sounds cool."

**he wanted, not to mention the second television, and the racing bike.**

"One big present a holiday and some smaller presents I can understand," said Remus. "But three huge, expensive presents, and more is a bit much. Don't you think?"

"Your just jealous."

"I bet you are too," retorted Remus.

"Yeah but I wasn't the one complaining," stated Sirius.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise-**

"Why doesn't this surprise me," said James.

**unless of course it involves punching somebody. **

"Bully!" muttered the Marauders.

"And what, you guys aren't bullies," retorted Lily. "Hexing people is just as bad as punching someone."

"We actually don't hex everyone that gets in our way. We pull pranks," said Sirius. "There's a difference."

"What about Snape?"

"That's different." said James.

"How so?" questioned Lily. "He's human too."

"You wouldn't get it."

"You just don't have a reason," huffed Lily. "You're just too stubborn to admit it.

**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry.**

"You stay away from my son, you big bully," Lily ordered.

**Harry didn't look it but he was very fast.**

"Just like his father," said James proudly.

"They're talking about on the ground, not in the air," stated Remus.

"So, I'm fast both ways," stated James.

Lily muttered something about James being too big-headed for his own good.

"Hey, I heard that!" snapped James.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard,**

"I'm going to kill my sister," growled Lily.

"Can we help," chorused the Marauders.

"The more the merrier!"

**but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.**

"She keeps him in a cupboard and starves him," said James. "I think this is classified as child abuse."

"Definitely!" agreed Sirius. "Maybe we should report it."

"How? This is in the future."

"Good point!"

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's,**

"This kid gets all these expensive presents and treated like a prince," complained Lily. "While my poor son gets absolutely nothing. That's not fair."

"Definitely not fair!"

**and Dudley was about four times bigger then he was.**

"The eating habits in this house are messed up to," stated Lily. "One isn't getting enough food; the other is getting way too much food."

**Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair,**

"Oh great he's a splitting image of his father," moaned Lily.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," said James.

"It is!"

**and bright green eyes.**

"Oh good," said James happily. "He got your eyes."

**He wore round glasses **

"And your bad eyesight," stated Lily.

**held together with a lot of scotch tape.**

"It actually surprises me that they even paid for the glasses in the first place," mentioned Lily. "I would have thought my sister would let him walk around all the time blind."

"I'm sure she did it for her personal benefit," guessed Sirius. "So he could do chores without breaking anything."

"Probably!"

**because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.**

"Punch him back," encouraged Sirius.

"But then he would get in trouble," stated Remus.

"Ok Harry don't punch him, stay out of trouble."

**The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance **

"See James, even your own son thinks you're ugly," laughed Lily.

**was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lighting.**

"You got to admit, it's a pretty cool scar," stated Sirius.

"Yeah, but it also got there for a very sad reason," said Remus.

"I know," replied Sirius. "But that doesn't mean it's not cool looking."

**He had had it as long as he can remember,**

"Since he was one to be exact," informed Remus.

**and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

"In the car crash when your parents died,"

"Car crash," shouted everyone in outrage.

"How could I get in a car crash if I don't even know what a car is," said James.

"She's going to be sorry when Dumbledore finds out they have been lying to my son," stated Lily. "They had it all in that letter, and Dumbledore told them to tell him."

"Don't worry they'll pay for their maltreatment of Harry sooner or later," said Sirius.

**she had said. "And don't ask questions."**

"I wouldn't be able to survive a day without at least asking one question," informed Sirius. "I like to know the answers to my questions. Waiting for the answer is just a waste of time.

**Don't ask questions- that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

"It doesn't sound very quiet to me," stated Remus.

** Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

"Comb your hair," he barked, by way of morning greeting.

"Now is that the way to greet your nephew," scolded James.

"A greeting is Hello, nice to see you, or something like that," continued Sirius. "Not, cook the bacon or comb your hair."

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut.**

"Haircuts don't help," stated James. "Messy, out of control hair is in the Potter genes, It can't be helped."

"Besides, you would think he would have realized by now that haircuts don't do his hair any good." said Lily.

**Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together,**

"Poor kid," sympathized Lily. "Why did he have to get your hair."

"It's not my fault it runs in the family, it's not like I decided: 'Hey, I think I want all the Potters, as well as me, to suffer with messy hair,'" said James. "If I could fix it, I would."

**but it made no difference; his hair simply grew that way- all over the place.**

"It's your fathers fault," informed Lily. "You got all your good features from me."

"That's not very nice," whined James.

"Life isn't very nice," stated Lily. "Deal with it."

"But I'm your husband, your suppose to love me," responded James.

"Not right now, you aren't!"

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head**.

"So in another words, their both fat and ugly," observed Sirius.

"That's not very nice," scolded Lily.

"But its true."

"Yes, but it's still not nice to make fun of people," said Lily.

"He punched Harry," mentioned Remus.

"Make fun of them all you want Sirius, they deserved it," said Lily angrily.

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel-**

"Baby angel, my..." started James.

"Don't even think about continuing that sentence," scolded Lily.

"You're not my mother, you can't tell me what to do," stated James.

"But I can tell your mother about your behavior when she's not around."

"You wouldn't," gasped James.

"I would."

**Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

Everyone starts laughing.

"That's a good one," laughed Remus.

"Yeah it looks like he got your sense of humor, Prongs," said Sirius.

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it." said James proudly.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. **

"Because that kid is way too spoiled," stated Lily.

**Dudley meanwhile was counting his presents. **

"It's a surprise he can even count," said James.

"He probably had to use his fingers and toes," laughed Sirius.

**His face fell. **

"Uh-oh," said everyone but Sirius.

"Cool!" exclaimed Sirius. "Now he has no face."

"Sirius do you remember that discussion we had earlier about knowing the difference when someone means something, and when they don't?" asked Lily.

"Yes."

"This is another time where you have to use your head," explained Lily. "Now does someone's face usually fall of there head."

"No!"

"So what does that mean?" questioned Lily.

"It was another figure of speech," said Sirius quietly.

"Very good!"

"**Thirty-six," he said,**

"Thirty-six," said James. "I don't even get that many presents for Christmas, and look at how much money I have."

**looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year." **

"Complain, complain, complain," moaned Lily. "Be grateful you even got any presents."

"Yeah," agreed Remus." Some people don't even get any presents at all."

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy." **

"Oh but that's not enough, because that's still one less than last year," said James trying to imitate Dudley.

Everyone laughs.

"**All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. **

"Geeze, if he gets mad at a little thing like this, he'd probably have a heart attack if something that actually mattered ticked him off," stated Lily.

"This is probably the only thing the kid cares about any way," guessed Sirius. "Besides bullying kids, that is."

**Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, **

"We knew it was coming since he began counting his presents," informed Sirius.

**began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over. **

"That wouldn't benefit Dudley though," said Remus. "Because then all his new toys would be broken."

"And then he would make his parents go out and buy him a whole new set of toy," guessed James.

"Probably!"

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out to day. How's that, pokin? **

"Bad," stated Lily. "That kid needs to learn some discipline."

**Two more presents. Is that all right?**"

"No!" complained Lily.

"Oh, stop we can't help it if she spoils her son," said James.

"But what about my son, he's getting nothing."

"We'll figure something out," assured James.

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. **

"I'm sure it is for him," laughed Sirius.

"How is it that he can count his presents, and figure how much less he got last year, but he can't do simple math like adding thirty-seven plus two," questioned Remus.

"Who knows," said James. "But it is sort of odd."

"**Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty... thirty..." **

"Thirty-nine!" shouted everyone.

"Even I knew that," said Sirius. "And I never even took math."

"**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

"Thank-you," cried Sirius. "At least there's someone in that family that can count."

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then." **

"That's all he had to say, after he made that big ordeal about not having enough presents," stated Lily. "No please, no thank-you."

"Yeah, learn some manners kid," scolded Sirius.

**Uncle Vernon chuckled.**

**"Little tyke wants his money's worth,**

"Doesn't sound like he's worth that much," observed James.

"No, he isn't!" agreed Sirius.

**just like his father. **

"If he said that to me, I would take it as a personal insult," stated Sirius.

'**Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair. **

"Don't encourage the behavior," said Lily.

"Your going to complain about this the whole time aren't you?" questioned Remus.

"Yes, until something is done to fix the many problems that exist inside that house," stated Lily.

**At the moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it**

"Well what else would she do with it, eat it," stated Sirius.

"No, but Dudley probably would," joked James.

**while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, **

"What's that?" asked the Marauders.

"You can record what people are doing on it, and then watch it later," explained Lily.

"Oh!"

**a remote control airplane, **

"An airplane is another muggle transportation system, except it's in the air," said Lily, before the Marauders could even ask.

**sixteen new computer games, and a V C R.**

"And a V C R is a box thingy hooked up to a TV, in which you can watch movies on," explained Lily.

"Cool!"

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wrist watch **

"Ripping the paper is wasting it," scolded Sirius. "If you take it off neatly you can re-use it and safe a tree."

**when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried. **

"Uh-oh!" said Lily. "What happened?"

"**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. **

"Ah, that's too bad," stated Sirius. "Who's Mrs. Figg?"

**She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction. **

"Is it that hard to say his name," complained Lily. "He does have feelings, and you should acknowledge those feelings as his legal guardian."

"Yeah, what she said," agreed James.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave leap. **

"You mean he likes to be treated like that?" asked Sirius.

"I think he's referring to something else," stated Remus.

**Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for a day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, **

"Who spends a day at a restaurant," asked Lily.

"Obviously Dudley and his friends."

or **the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. **

"It can't be any worse that the Dursley's," stated James.

"Well, it must be, if he's saying he hates it," said Remus.

**The whole house smelled of cabbage **

"Ewwww," moaned everyone.

"Cabbage has got to be one of the most disgusting foods there is," said Sirius.

"Definitely!"

**and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned. **

"I'm allergic to cats," stated James.

"Well then I guess that means we can't get married," said Lily. "Because I love cats."

"No you don't," replied Remus. "I know for a fact that you made one of your room mates get rid of her cat because you said it was looking at you funny."

"Yay, we can still get married," exclaimed James, Lily groaned.

**"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. **

"My son would never do something like that," said Lily.

"You never know, he is related to James," responded Remus.

**Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg,**

"You better feel sorry young man," scolded Lily. "You should make her a get well card."

"Why would he do that?" asked James.

"To help make her feel better," said Lily.

"Cards can't make you feel better," said Sirius.

"They make me feel better."

"Really, I'll make you one next time you get sick then," James offered.

"No thanks, yours would probably just make me sicker," stated Lily.

**but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again. **

"Cute names," said Remus.

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

"How could anyone hate my son?" questioned James.

"Well he is related to you," responded Lily.

"He's your son too, you know," retorted James.

"I know but he obviously takes after you, and you have knack for making people hate you," stated Lily.

"Your the only person that hates me, and your going to end up marrying me anyway, so you obviously don't hate me as much as I thought," shouted James.

"Probably because you'll black mail me or something," guessed Lily.

"I would never stoop that low. I would only want you to marry me if you really wanted to."

**The Dursley's often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there- **

"We figured that out already," said Sirius angrily.

**or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug, **

"Slugs are actually kind of cute, in a weird sort of way," said James.

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend- Yvonne?"**

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia. **

"No need to get snappy," Sirius said. "It isn't that big of a deal."

"**You could just leave me here,"**

"Excellent idea, Harry," said Remus.

**Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change **

"He shouldn't be watching too much TV," scolded Lily. "It's bad for his health."

"Well we don't have to worry about that now, since he doesn't get to watch that much TV anyway." James responded.

**and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

**"Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon."**

"I wonder what it's like to swallow a lemon?" Sirius asked.

"Not very pleasant," replied James.

"How would you know?" asked Remus.

"Lily did this curse when she was mad at me once, made me feel like I just swallowed a whole lemon. It didn't wear off for a whole day," explained James. "It was the worst tasting thing ever, worse than cabbage."

"The look on your face was absolutely hilarious," said Lily.

**"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

**"I won't blow up the house," **

"He should though," stated Sirius.

"But then he won't have anywhere to live," said Lily.

"Oh!"

**said Harry, but they weren't listening. **

"You listen to my son when he's got something to say," scolded Lily.

"I** suppose we could take him to the zoo," **

"That is their best idea yet," said James. "I'm sure Harry would have lots of fun at the zoo, even if it is with the Dursley's."

**said Aunt Petunia slowly, "... and leave him in the car..." **

"You are not leaving my son in any car," shouted Lily. "Your taking him to the zoo, and that's final."

**"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone..." **

"He's not going to ruin everything he touches," retorted Lily.

"I thought you didn't want him to be left in the car?" questioned Remus.

"I don't, but I have to defend my son, he isn't a criminal," explained Lily.

**Dudley began to cry loudly. **

"Cry baby," chorused everyone.

**In, fact, he wasn't really crying -**

"Then how can they say he's crying?" asked a confused Sirius.

"They mean he's pretending to cry," Remus explained.

"Oh!"

**it had been years since he really cried- but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted**

"Mama's boy," said the Marauders.

**"Dinky Duddydums,**

"Dinky Duddydums," laughed everyone.

"That one's worse than Duddy," stated Sirius.

**don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!"**

"She actually believed that bit," said James in awe. "That kid must be a really good actor."

"Guess so!"

**she cried flinging her arms around him.**

**"I... don't... want... him... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap his mother's arms.**

"Like Harry wanted to go anyway," retorted James.

**Just then the doorbell rang- "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically- and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss,**

"Funny name," laughed Sirius.

**walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. **

"Sounds like Peter," said Remus.

"That's not very nice to say," scolded Lily.

"But it's true!"

**He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. **

"That's not very fair," stated Sirius.

"Your right," said James. "But it shows how much of a coward he is."

"How?"

"Well he has to hold his victims back before he fights them. He doesn't give them the chance to fight back, meaning he's afraid they might hurt him."

"Ha ha, Dudley's a scardy cat," laughed Sirius.

**Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. **

"Figures!"

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. **

"Yay, Harry gets to go to the zoo," cheered Sirius.

**His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, **

"Luckily, they decided not to lock him in his cupboard all day," said Lily.

"Yeah, luckily!"

**but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside. **

"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's,

"Ewwww," moaned everyone.

**"I'm warning you now, boy- any funny business, anything at all- **

"What's he going to do?" questioned Sirius.

"Magic!"

"But Harry doesn't know about magic," countered Sirius.

"But he can still do it," stated Lily.

**and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas." **

"He can't do that," cried Lily. "That's child abuse."

"Do you think that would stop him," stated Remus.

**"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly..." **

"Yeah, he's not going to do anything," added James.

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did. **

"Well, maybe they should start," suggested Sirius.

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it just was no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen. **

"That's because he did make them happen," stated Remus.

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." **

Sirius and Remus laughed. "It's not funny, that was probably very embarrassing for Harry," said Lily.

"Were not laughing at Harry, were laughing because the same thing happened to James," explained Sirius, Lily started laughing.

"It's not funny," whined James.

"Yes, it was!"

**Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses**.

"Poor thing!"

"To bad we can't prank anyone that makes fun of him," said Sirius.

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. **

"Oh good," sighed Lily. "That teaches her a lesson."

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, **

"That's not fair," complained Sirius. "How can you punish someone for their hair growing back."

**even though he tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly. **

"It's because he's a wizard," explained James. "But that's beside the point, she still can't punish him, he didn't know he could make his hair grow back."

"Exactly!"

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls). **

"Ewwwww," moaned everyone.

"That is revolting," agreed Lily.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, **

"Don't you think Harry can dress himself," said Sirius.

"Yes, but the sweater is so revolting that Harry probably wouldn't wear it unless his aunt forced him to," Remus explained.

"Good point!"

**the smaller it seemed to become, **

"Cool!"

**until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet,**

"I love puppets," stated Sirius.

**but certainly wouldn't fit Harry**.

"Good, because no son of mine would wear a sweater that disgusting," said James.

"Why would she buy the sweater in the first place?" questioned Remus.

"My sister has the worst taste in clothes," responded Lily.

**Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, **

"She must be extremely stupid," decided Remus. "If she thinks that sweaters continue to shrink outside the wash."

"She knows it doesn't," said Lily. "But she doesn't want Harry to know he's a wizard, so she came up with an excuse so Harry doesn't suspect anything."

"Oh!"

**To his great relief, Harry wasn't punished. **

"Good!"


	5. The Vanishing Glass: Part Two

**b On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. /b**

"That's my boy," said James proudly.

"A true Marauder," continued Sirius.

"How can you praise him, he could of gotten seriously hurt," scolded Lily.

"But he didn't," stated James.

**b Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual /b**

"Oh leave him alone, he didn't do anything to you," said Lily.

**b when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. /b**

"That sounds like apparation," said a surprised Remus.

"Cool, not only did my son defeat Voldermort, he learned how to apparate at the youngest age ever," James cheered.

"He couldn't have apparated, it's very hard and advance magic, not to mention dangerous," said Lily. "We don't even know how to apparate."

"Our son is obviously already highly advanced, he did defeat Voldermort, so it's only obvious that he can apparate before anyone else," explained James.

"I guess so, but still..."

"No buts, he apparated and that's final."

"Fine!"

**b The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. /b**

"Well technically he didn't climb, he apparated," stated Remus.

**b But all he tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) /b**

"He better listen to Harry's side of the story," scolded Lily. "Or I'll take care of Petunia, so he'll have no wife or son."

"You tell him, Lily!" the boys all cheered.

**b was jump behind the big trash can outside the kitchen doors. /b**

"Why didn't he just walk around?" questioned Remus.

"He was in a hurry," guessed Sirius. "And jumping's faster."

**b Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump./b**

"He may be skinny, but no ones that skinny," stated Lily.

"Besides he apparated," said James.

"But wouldn't he have apparted behind the trash can since that was where he wanted to go," questioned Remus.

"He was obviously thing subconsciously about jumping on to the roof," responded Sirius.

"That's an interesting theory," stated Lily.

"Isn't it!"

**b But today, nothing was going to go wrong./b**

"Don't say that, then something will go wrong," said Lily.

**b It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage smelling living room./b**

"Poor kid, he really doesn't get out much does he," stated James.

"Nope!"

**b While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia./b**

"Why would she want to listen to you complain?" questioned Sirius.

"Who knows!"

**b He liked to complain about things:/b**

"Oh good, because then that means he has a horrible life," cheered Sirius.

**b people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry /b**

"I'm sensing a pattern here," said Remus.

"Their is nothing about Harry to complain about," stated Lily.

"Yes, that's right, absolutely nothing," agreed James.

**b were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles./b**

"Hey, motorcycles are cool," retorted James.

"Especially flying ones," agreed Sirius.

**b"...roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums,"/b**

"I'll take that as a compliment," stated Sirius.

**b he said, as a motorcycle overtook them./b**

"Cool!" exclaimed Sirius.

"They mean it passed them, not take over them," Lily explained.

"Oh, I knew that!"

**b"I had a dream about a motorcycle,"/b**

"He shouldn't of said that," stated James.

**b said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."/b**

"And he should of definitely not of said that," stated James.

**b Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front of him./b**

"Cool, say it again Harry," said Sirius.

"No, he'll get hurt," replied Lily.

"Oh, good point!"

**b He turned right around in his and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache:/b**

"Ewwww!" moaned everyone.

**b"MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"/b**

"Actually, they do," said Remus. "And Harry's been on one before."

**b Dudley and Piers sniggered./b**

"I hate those kids," said Sirius. "Can I turn them into toads?"

"Go ahead, doesn't bother me."

**bI know they don't,"/b**

"But they do," said Remus. "You should find out soon enough."

"I wonder when he'll get his letter," Lily wondered.

"Maybe he's a squib," suggested Sirius.

"I highly doubt it," said James. "He's already shown signs of doing magic."

"Oh yeah!"

**b said Harry. "It was only a dream."/b**

"Actually it was a memory," corrected Remus.

**b But he wished he hadn't said anything./b**

"Me too," agreed Lily. "He almost got killed for it."

**b If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was a dream or even a cartoon-/b**

"I love cartoons," said Sirius. "They're funny!"

**b they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas./b**

"Like turning them all into toads," suggested Sirius.

"Maybe even worse," laughed James. "It's just too bad Harry doesn't know how to control his magic yet. Then he could pay them all back for what they did to him."

**b It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families./b**

"This is the big moment Remus," said an excited Sirius. "Our future selves are going to show up at the zoo, and kidnap Harry and drag him into the crowd. And when the Dursleys figure out he's missing, we'll be long gone."

"Excellent plan, Sirius." congratulated Remus. "And as much as I want to rescue Harry, I still think if we were going to we would have done it already. It wouldn't of mattered where we did it, because the Dursleys probably couldn't care less if Harry ended up missing."

"And once again Remus, you ruin all the fun," stated Sirius.

**b The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance /b**

"My son better get an ice cream," stated Lily.

**b and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop./b**

"It's better than nothing," said James.

"Their actually pretty good," stated Lily.

**b It wasn't bad, either,/b**

"Cool," exclaimed Lily. "Me and Harry have the same taste in ice cream."

"Do you think she's lost it," whispered Sirius to Remus.

"No, I think she's just a tad bit excited," whispered Remus.

**b Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching his head /b**

"How exciting," muttered James in a sarcastic voice.

**b who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond./b**

Everyone laughed.

"Your son definitely has your sense of humor, Prongs," stated Remus.

"Yup!"

**b Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time./b**

"I'm glad," said Lily.

"Yeah, he deserves it," agreed James.

**b He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys /b**

"I would to," said Sirius. "I wouldn't want anyone to find out I was related to a bunch of weirdos."

**b so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime,/b**

"How can you get bored with animals," said Lily. "They're fascinating creatures."

"What's your favorite type of animal?" asked James.

"I would have to say any type of deer," responded Lily.

"Mine too," said an excited James.

**b wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him./b**

"He's smart too," stated Remus. "Knows when to stay out of the way."

"Yup," agreed Lily. "I have the perfect son."

**b They ate in the zoo restaurant,/b**

"Well duh, where else would they eat," stated Sirius. "Up a tree."

**b and when Dudley had a tantrum /b**

"Can't even go to a public place without throwing a tantrum. My sister really needs to learn to discipline that child," scolded Lily.

**b because his knickerbockers glory didn't have enough ice cream on top,/b**

"Like he needs it!"

**b Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first./b**

"Well, that's good," said James.

"This sounds a little too good to be true," stated Sirius.

"Don't jinx it," chorused everyone except Sirius.

**b Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last./b**

Everyone looked at Sirius.

"What, it was obvious something bad was going to happen, since usually nothing good happens to him," explained Sirius.

**b After lunch they went to the reptile house./b**

"Cool!" exclaimed the Marauders.

**b It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls./b**

"Sounds creepy," stated Lily.

"If you're scared, you can cuddle up against me," suggested James.

"In your dreams Potter!"

**b Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone./b**

"I hope Harry doesn't get attacked by a snake," said a worried Lily.

"What makes you think that would happen?" questioned Remus.

"Well, he did say it was too good to be true, meaning something bad is going to happen, and they're in the reptile house and..." rambled Lily.

"Don't worry, that can't be it, all the animals are locked behind glass. Harry will be fine," James said.

**b Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man- crushing pythons./b**

"So do we," agreed the boys.

**b Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place./b**

Well, it couldn't have been that hard." stated Sirius. "Since it is the biggest snake in the place."

**b It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can-/b**

"Cool, I hope it does," stated Sirius.

"I don't, because then Harry will get blamed for it," said Lily.

"They wouldn't be able to blame him because the snake did it," responded James.

"I know my sister, and she would find a way to blame him."

**b but at the moment it didn't look in the mood./b**

"That's too bad," moaned Sirius. "I was looking forward to seeing a crushed car."

**b In fact, it was asleep./b**

"Boring," yawned James.

**b Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils./b**

"I feel bad for that snake," stated Remus.

"Me too!"

"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass,

"Poor snake, having to put up with that nonsense," said Lily.

**b but the snake didn't budge./b**

"Good!"

"Do it again," Dudley ordered.

"Do it yourself, brat," retorted James.

**b Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly /b**

"How can you act smart while tapping glass," questioned Sirius. "It's stupid."

"It's another figure of speech," explained Remus.

**b with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on./b**

"This is boring,"

"I find it interesting," stated Lily.

"You do?" asked James.

"Well, no, but I'm just trying to make a point, which you have now ruined, by the way," snapped Lily.

"Well, sorrrry," responded James.

**b Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

****

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake./b**

"Looks like Harry is easily amused by the snake," said Remus.

**b He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself-/b**

"Me neither!"

**b no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long./b**

"Sounds annoying," guessed Remus.

"It would give me a headache," stated Sirius.

**b It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom,/b**

"No, it's not," disagreed Sirius. "Animals are use to stuff like that."

"It's kind of sweet though that Harry cares about the snake, don't ya think?" questioned Lily.

"Sort of, but still that snake is still better off than him," stated Sirius.

**b where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house./b**

"He can't do much though," said Remus.

**b The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's./b**

"Don't you dare hurt my son," screeched Lily.

"Don't worry, they're both on different sides of the glass," James said.

"Oh yeah!"

**b It winked./b**

Everyone was silent before Remus said, "That's impossible, how can it wink, snakes have no eyelids."

"Weird!" muttered everyone.

**b Harry stared /b**

"As I said before, it's rude to stare," Sirius scolded.

"Yes, but Harry's only staring because he's so surprised that the snake winked at him," explained Remus.

"Just the same it's rude to stare," stated Sirius.

**b Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching./b**

"Why? It's not like he was doing anything illegal," said James.

"Maybe he's paranoid," guessed Sirius.

"Maybe!"

**b They weren't./b**

"Guess that's good for Harry then," said Remus.

**b He looked back at the snake and winked, too./b**

"He lost it," said James. "Harry is so lonely he feels he has to make friends with a snake."

"I think he is just trying to see what the snake was going to do," reassured Remus.

"Well, I guess that's all right," replied James.

**b The snake jerked his head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling./b**

"This is getting kind of freaky," stated Lily.

"Freaky is an understatement," responded Sirius.

**b It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:/b**

"I get that all the time."

"I don't like where this is going," said a nervous James.

"Neither do I," agreed Sirius.

"Why, where is this going?" asked Lily.

"You'll see."

**b"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

****

**The snake nodded vigorously./b**

"You don't mean... Harry's a..." said Lily.

"Looks like it," stated James.

Lily gasped in shock.

**b"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

****

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

****

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil./b**

"But how?" questioned Lily.

"It wasn't from me," stated James.

"Well it's definitely not from me," Lily said.

"Maybe Voldermort some how transferred a few of his powers to Harry by accident," guessed Remus.

"Maybe!"

"As long as he uses his power for good and not evil, I'm fine with it," said Lily.

"Me too," agreed James.

**b"Was it nice there?"/b**

**b The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo./b**

"You mean the snake use to be a loaf of bread?" asked Sirius stupidly.

"No dufus, it was born and raised in the zoo," snapped Lily.

"Well they should have just said that." whined Sirius.

**b"Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?"/b**

**As the snake shook its head,**

"Harry doesn't even think it's the least bit odd that the snake can understand everything he's saying and then also give him an answer?" questioned Lily.

"Maybe Harry thinks its normal for snakes to be able to understand people," suggested Remus.

"I wonder what gave him that idea," wondered Sirius.

**b a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump./b**

"How can a snake jump, it has no legs," asked Sirius, looking at Lily.

"Don't look at me, I don't know everything," stated Lily.

"I never thought I'd see the day when I would see the Lily Evans admit she didn't know everything," said James.

"Well at least I can admit it," retorted Lily.

"I never said that I knew everything," informed James.

"Well you certainly act like you do," responded Lily.

**b"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"/b**

"Your in a public place young man, use your manners," scolded Lily.

**b Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could./b**

"Which basically means he won't get there till at least next year," joked James.

"Sounds about right," replied Sirius.

**b"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs./b**

"Don't you dare touch my son, you little... pig," screeched Lily.

**b Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor./b**

"I hope he's alright," said a worried Lily.

"He'll be fine," assured James.

"You don't know that, they said he fell hard, he could have gotten hurt, or broken something," said Lily.

"Don't worry, he's fine."

**b What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened-/b**

"Oh-uh," said Lily. "Harry might of done magic."

"Cool," chorused the boys.

**b one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror./b**

"The snake attacked them," said an excited Sirius.

"I hope so!"

**b Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished./b**

"Cool!" exclaimed the Marauders.

"Not if Harry did it," stated Lily. "Petunia will punish him so bad, it's not even funny."

"Uh-oh!"

**b The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor./b**

"He better not hurt my son," stated Lily.

"He won't," responded Remus. "Harry was the one who set him free."

**b People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits./b**

"Don't scare the poor thing," said Sirius. "It'll just provoke it, causing it to attack."

"How do you know that?" questioned James.

"I read about it," stated Sirius proudly.

"You can actually read," Lily said in surprise.

"I'm not stupid, I just don't apply myself, or so Dumbledore says," explained Sirius.

"Oh!"

**b As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come...Thanksss amigo."/b**

"Aw, that's sweet, Harry made a friend with the snake," cooed Lily.

"I hope this doesn't get him into Slytherin," stated a worried James.

"I doubt it," said Remus. "He's too much like you."

"And even if the hat tried to put him in Slytherin, Harry would probably beg and plead to be put in a different house," mentioned Sirius. "That's what I did, I wanted nothing to do with those jerks."

"You're probably right," said James.

"Not probably, we are!"

**b The keeper of the reptile house was in shock./b**

"Well, sure he was," said James. "It's not everyday a snake decides it wants to run off to Brazil."

**b"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"/b**

"Where do things go when you make them disappear with magic?" asked Lily.

"Not exactly sure," stated Remus. "Thin air I guess."

**b The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again./b**

"He should be apologizing," scolded Lily. "Keeping poor, innocent animals locked up when all they want to do is be with there families."

**b Piers and Dudley could only gibber./b**

"Cry-babies" muttered everyone.

"It didn't hurt anyone, it's not that big of a deal," said Lily.

"That's not what you said earlier. That snake better not hurt my son, Oh my God, blah, blah, blah..." mentioned James in his best imitation of Lily.

"That was before and this is after," retorted Lily.

**b As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed./b**

"See, the snake didn't do anything," said Lily.

"But, I told you that before and you didn't believe me," responded James.

"Why are you guys even arguing over something so stupid," questioned Remus.

"He/she started it," said Lily and James at the same time.

"It doesn't matter who started it, it's a stupid argument with no point what's-so-ever, and It doesn't even make sense. I would like to continue reading," screamed Remus.

"Go ahead, no ones stopping you," replied James.

"You... oh never mind," groaned Remus, before he continued to read.

**b but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car,/b**

"Is the author related to these Dursley people or something," asked Sirius.

"No, Harry is," responded Lily.

"Yeah but it's not written in first person, so Harry isn't writing the book. The author doesn't always have to use Aunt or Uncle because it's in third person," explained Sirius.

"I wonder why the author does that," Remus wondered. "That is kind of weird."

**b Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg,/b**

"Yeah, right!"

**b while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death./b**

"If the snake had really wanted to do those things, then it would have done them," stated James.

**b But worst of all, for Harry at least,/b**

"Oh-no, Harry did hurt himself when he fell," said Lily in a worried voice.

"I think if he did, he would have said something before now," mentioned James.

**b was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"/b**

"That little..." started James.

"No foul language," scolded Lily.

"But now that little brat just got Harry into trouble," complained James.

"I wish that snake did strangle him to death," said Sirius.

"Me too!"

**b Uncle Vernon waited to Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry./b**

"If you lay a finger on my son, I will personally kill, or haunt you, or whatever ghosts do," said Lily.

"And I'll help," added James.

**b He was so angry he could hardly speak./b**

"He better not be blaming this on Harry," said Sirius.

"Looks like he is," replied Remus.

**b He managed to say, "Go- cupboard- stay- no meals,"/b**

"They can't do that," said Lily. "He'll starve, he's skinny enough as it is, and then in that small space. My poor baby."

"They will eventually have to feed him," said James.

"But what if they don't," asked Lily.

"Harry will find a way to find food for himself, he's smart enough," guessed James.

"I guess!"

**b before he collapsed into a chair,/b**

"Sirius, he plopped down onto the chair, he didn't fall apart and crumble," said Lily before Sirius could even get a chance to say anything.

**b and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy./b**

"How does Harry know this, if he had to go to his cupboard," questioned Sirius.

"He probably took his time," Remus guessed.

**b Harry lay in his dark cupboard /b**

"They don't even give him a light," said Lily. "How do they expect him to see."

"Well, hey at least we know he's not afraid of the dark," stated James.

"Why would we care if he was afraid of the dark," Lily retorted.

"Well, if Harry was ever to be in a situation where he was in complete darkness and didn't have his wand or a flash-light, we would know he wouldn't be afraid and is accustomed to doing things in the dark," explained James.

"I doubt a situation like that would ever occur."

"Hey, you never know."

**b much later,/b**

"How much later?" questioned Lily.

"Why does it matter?" asked Sirius.

"Because I want to know how long my sister as been keeping my son locked up for," replied Lily.

**b wishing he had a watch./b**

"Wouldn't matter anyway, he wouldn't be able to see it," muttered Lily.

"Not if he had one of those cool looking watches that can light up," exclaimed Remus.

b **He didn't know what time it was /b**

"Well duh, they just said he didn't have a watch," stated Sirius.

**b and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet./b**

"He going to sneak out," said an excited Sirius.

"Just like his father would do," said James proudly.

"Oh God!" Lily groaned.

**b Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food./b**

"Told you, Lily, Harry would find one way or another to get himself some food," stated James.

"But what if he were to get caught," said Lily.

"He wouldn't, he's too much like his father," replied James.

"That's what I'm worried about!"

**b He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years,/b**

"I bet," stated Remus.

"How much?" asked Sirius.

"It's an expression, Sirius." Remus explained.

"Oh!"

**b as long as he could remember,/b**

"I guess that mean he doesn't remember us," said Lily sadly.

"That doesn't mean he wanted to forget. He was just too young to remember that far back," stated James.

**b ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash./b**

"We didn't die in a car crash," screamed James.

"But Harry doesn't know that," stated Remus. "No one told him."

"Well they should."

"But they won't."

**b He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died./b**

"Because we weren't in a car," said James.

"We've been over this already," stated Remus.

"I know, I'm just saying."

**b Sometimes, when he strained his memory /b**

"Don't do that Harry, it hurts," said Sirius.

**b during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision:/b**

"Harry can see the future," asked Sirius.

"No, he's remembering something from the night we died," Lily explained.

"Oh!"

**b a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead./b**

"I still can't believe he survived the killing curse," said James.

"It is pretty cool," responded Remus. "Sad, but cool."

**b This, he supposed, was the crash,/b**

"The story of our deaths does not include a crash," retorted James. "And, yes Remus, I know we have already been over this."

**b though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from./b**

"Voldermort's wand," stated Sirius.

**b He couldn't remember his parents at all./b**

"That's too bad, because they're great people," Sirius said.

"Yeah they are," agreed Remus.

"Aw thanks you guys," said Lily.

"You guys are great too."

**b His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house./b**

"Poor thing," said Remus. "He doesn't even know what you guys look like."

**b When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed /b**

"The boy sure likes to dream doesn't he," observed Sirius.

"Don't make fun of him," scolded Lily.

"I wasn't, I was only stating the truth."

"Well it didn't sound like that."

**b of some unknown relation coming to take him away,/b**

"That should have been me," said Sirius.

**b but it had never happened;/b**

"I'm sorry, Harry," Sirius apologized. "I let you down."

"I'm sure you have a good reason for not being there," said Lily.

**b The Dursleys were his only family./b**

"If you call that a family," said James.

**b Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe he hoped) that stranger in the street seem to know him./b**

"Don't hope that Harry," scolded Lily. "It's dangerous to talk to strangers."

**b Very strange strangers /b**

Sirius started laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Remus.

"Strange strangers, the word strange is in the word strangers," laughed Sirius.

"Okaaay!"

**b they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley./b**

"Oh I get it," said James. "Its wizards that recognize him since he's so famous for defeating Voldermort."

"Oh yeah, that makes sense," stated Remus.

**b After asking Harry furiously /b**

"Don't get mad at him," said Sirius. "It's not his fault that he's famous."

**b if he knew the man,/**b

"Obviously not," stated Remus.

**b Aunt Petunia rushed them out of the shop without buying anything./b**

"Aw," whined Sirius. "I was hoping for a new toy."

"Who said they were in a toy store?" questioned Lily.

"It didn't, but every time I go in one of those muggle stores they always have some interesting gadget," Sirius explained.

b **A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green /b**

"What's with the author and having people wearing the color green?" James asked.

"Maybe the color will be important later on," guessed Remus.

"Maybe!"

**b had waved merrily at him on a bus./b**

"I wish someone I didn't know would wave to me on a bus," said Sirius.

"Why?"

"Because then I would be famous."

"Fame isn't all what it's cracked up to be," stated Lily.

**b A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand and then walked away without a word./b**

"At least be polite and say hello," stated James.

"Yeah, don't be rude," scolded Sirius.

**b The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look./b**

"It called apparation, Harry," James explained. "You've done it before; you just didn't know you were doing it."

**b At school, Harry had no one./b**

"Poor thing," said Lily.

"Don't worry, he'll make friends at Hogwarts."

**b Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter /b**

"My son in not odd, he is perfectly normal," stated Lily.

"Perfectly normal," agreed everyone else.

**b in his baggy old clothes /b**

"Which were Dudley's in the first place," started Remus.

"Meaning that they're making fun of Dudley's clothes," continued James.

"Which means their actually making fun of Dudley, and he's just too stupid to realize it," Sirius finished.

**b and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang. /b**

"I wouldn't mind disagreeing with his gang, I think it would be kind of fun," stated Sirius.

"Me too!"

"Well, of course you would, you can do magic. The fight would be over before I could snap my fingers," stated Lily.

"That's true!"

"Anyway that's the end of the chapter, shall I continue?" Remus asked.

"Yes!" everyone chorused.


	6. The Letters From No One: Part One

Disclaimer: The story and the characters all belong to J.K. Rowling; I'm just adding the comments.

_A/N: I want to say sorry for the delay, but since it's the end of the year things are kind of pretty busy with finals and Regents exams. But the school year finally ends next Friday, yay! I want to thanks everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate. Now on with the story._

**b Chapter three: The Letters from No One./b**

"How can you get a letter from no one?" asked Sirius. "Someone had to of sent it."

"They probably mean they don't know who are sending the letters," guessed Lily.

"Oh!"

**b The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor /b**

"Do you think they ever found it?" asked James.

"I hope not," exclaimed Lily.

**b earned Harry his longest-ever punishment./b**

"It better have not been too long or my sister will have to watch her back," threatened Lily.

"She already had to watch her back anyway," James informed.

"True!"

**b By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started /b**

"Well we don't know how long he was in there because they didn't tell us when Dudley's birthday was," Sirius whined.

"Well it had to of been a pretty long time," stated Remus.

"Well, look on the bright side, at least he got to miss school," said Sirius.

"I'm sure he still had to go to school, or the police would come to investigate," replied Lily.

**b and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane,/b**

"What a waste of money," exclaimed James.

**b and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches./b**

"I bet that kid didn't even apologize," said James.

"He better have," Lily scolded.

**b Harry was glad school was over,/b**

"Me too," Sirius agreed. "School is boring."

**b but there was no escaping Dudley's gang,/b**

"How come these kids don't get in trouble when they beat kids up at school?" Remus asked.

"The parents probably bribe the school out of punishing them," stated Sirius.

**b who visited the house every single day./b**

"Poor Harry!"

**b Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid,/b**

"No arguments there," mentioned James.

**b but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot,/b**

"And he's probably proud of it," said Remus.

"Probably!"

**b he was the leader./b**

"Makes since in a weird sort of way," said Lily.

**b The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting./b**

"I don't like the sound of that," said Lily.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure Harry will make it nice and difficult for them to find them." assured James.

**b This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house,/b**

"See!"

**b wandering around and thinking/b**

"Well, I guess that's an improvement from his father," stated Lily.

"Yeah... Hey!" exclaimed James. Everyone laughed.

**b about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope./b**

"Hogwarts, here Harry comes," chanted Sirius.

"He still doesn't know about Hogwarts yet Sirius." said Remus.

"I know, I was just saying."

**b When September came he would be going off to secondary school /b**

"Actually, Hogwarts, but you'll figure that out soon enough," said James.

**b and for the first time in his life he wouldn't be with Dudley./b**

"Yay!" chorused everyone.

**b Dudley had been accepted to Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings./b**

"I'm surprised they would even accept him," stated Lily.

"They probably only accept fat and stupid kids," said Sirius.

**b Piers Polkiss was going there too./b**

"See, only fat and stupid kids," observed Sirius.

**b Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school./b**

"Actually, Harry you get to go to Hogwarts, and become a great wizard like your father," said James.

"He's already a great wizard James," Lily pointed out.

"True, you get to go to Hogwarts and become an even better wizard than you are now," James said.

**b Dudley thought this was very funny./b**

"This kid is easily amused apparently," said Remus.

"Yup!"

**b"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"/b**

"No he does not," retorted Lily.

**b"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilets never had anything as horrible as your head down it - it might get sick."/b**

Everyone laughed.

"Great come back, Harry," said Remus.

"A true Marauder in the works," added Sirius.

"Definitely!" agreed James. "Don't you think Lily?"

"I hope not!"

**b Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said./b**

"Another true quality of a Marauder," said Sirius.

**b One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's./b**

"I thought Harry only had to go there once a year, on Dudley's birthday," said Remus.

"Well, obviously not," replied Sirius.

**b Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual./b**

"That's good," stated Lily.

**b It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats,/b**

"Stupid cats," muttered Lily.

**b and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before./b**

"I wouldn't be either if I broke my leg tripping over one of my cats," said James.

"You wouldn't have a cat anyway, since you hate them so much," stated Lily.

"I was just saying if I had a cat," explained James.

"Well you won't ever have one, so what's the point in saying it," snapped Lily.

"Can't even make a comment without getting my head bitten off," James muttered.

"I heard that!"

**b She let Harry watch television /b**

"That's nice of her," stated Lily.

**b and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years./b**

"Better not eat it Harry, you might get sick," advised James.

**b That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform./b**

"Show off," muttered everyone.

**b Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters./b**

"I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that," stated Sirius.

"Hogwarts uniforms are much better," stated Remus.

"Definitely!"

**b They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking./b**

"The actually say for them to use them like that?" Sirius questioned.

"No, but that's how the kids like to use them," stated Remus.

"I'm surprised they don't use them on the teachers," said James.

"I wouldn't put it past them."

**b This was supposed to be good training for later life./b**

"I guess that is what there used for," said Remus.

"How in the world does that help them later in life," asked Lily.

"Your guess is as good as mine," said James.

**b As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life./b**

"I think it would be the most embarrassing moment of my life," stated Sirius.

"I wish we could see Harry in his uniform," said Lily.

"We will, just from a different angle," assured James.

**b Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe her Ickle Dudleykins,/b**

"Where does this woman come up with these names," asked Remus.

"Who knows, but someone needs to slap some sense into her before she scars her son for the rest of his life," replied James.

"I'll do it," said Sirius, rubbing his hands together.

**b he looked so handsome /b**

"I've seen cuter rats than Dudley," stated Sirius.

**b and grown-up./b**

"He may look grown-up but that doesn't mean he acts like it," said Lily.

**b Harry didn't trust himself to speak./b**

"Wise choice Harry," agreed James. "We don't want you to get yourself into trouble."

**b He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh./b**

"Do what I do when I think it isn't an appropriate time to laugh," said Sirius.

"And what is that?" asked Lily.

"Laugh!"

"What?" questioned Lily.

"Whenever Sirius here thinks that a room is to quiet or depressing, he laughs to make the room more energetic," Remus explained. "You have to know him well enough to understand his logic, sometimes I don't even understand it."

"I see!"

**b There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast./b**

"That's because my sister is a horrible cook," stated Lily.

**b I seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink./b**

"And she has completely lost her mind, and forgot the proper way to cook," Lily said.

**b He went to have a look./b**

"Be careful, it might be dangerous," Sirius warned.

**b The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water./b**

"Well, I guess she's not cooking after all," said Remus.

**b"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia./b**

"Uh-oh he asked a question, take cover," said Sirius.

**b Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question./b**

"Awww," whined Sirius. "She didn't explode."

**b"Your new school uniform," she said./b**

"Don't waste your time, he won't be needing it," stated James.

**b Harry looked in the bowl again.**

**"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."/b**

"Good one Harry," laughed James.

**b"Don't be stupid,"/b**

"He's not, he's being funny," said Lily.

**b snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look like everyone else's when I've finished."/b**

"I doubt it," said James. "But it still doesn't matter since Harry's going to Hogwarts."

"You don't have to repeat it after every two seconds we know he's going to Hogwarts," replied Lily.

"I know, I'm just excited," said James.

**b Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue./b**

"Good idea sense you're not going," stated James.

**b He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High-/b**

"You don't have to since your not going," repeated James.

**b like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably./b**

"No you won't since Hogwarts students don't wear gray." said James.

"Shut-up!" shouted Lily.

"You can't make me," retorted James.

"Try me," replied Lily, pulling out her wand.

"You can't do magic outside of school, they'll expel you," said James.

"Yes I can, I just celebrated my birthday last week. I can do all the magic I want." stated Lily.

"I'll just shut-up now."

"Good idea."

**b Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform./b**

"Why doesn't she just do it outside?" asked Remus.

"Because she slowly wants to kill her entire family," guessed Sirius

**b Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual /b**

"Oh-no," whined Sirius. "They're going back to explaining how they nothings changed, and they do everything the same, and..."

"We get the point," said Remus.

**b and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table./b**

"He better not be using that stupid stick to hit my son," stated Lily.

**b They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat./b**

"They have surprisingly good hearing," James observed.

**"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"This is a first," said Remus. "They're actually making Dudley do something."

"It's a miracle," exclaimed Sirius.

**b"Make Harry get it."/b**

"No, for once your going to get off your lazy bum and do something," scolded James.

**b"Get the mail, Harry."/b**

"No, make Dudley get it," retorted James.

**b"Make Dudley get it."/b**

"Cool, me and Harry can read each others minds," said James. "Were like twins."

"Oh great," moaned Lily. "Just what we need, a mini James Potter running around."

**b"Poke him with your smelting stick, Dudley."/b**

"If you touch him, you die," warned Lily.

**b Harry dodged the Smelting stick /b**

"Good Quiddatch reflexes," said James. "He'll be an excellent player."

"You can tell just because he dodged a stick," said Lily.

"Yup, it's my sixth sense," stated James.

"Sixth sense, huh!"

"Yup, pretty cool isn't it," said James.

"That's one way to put it."

**b and went to get the mail./b**

"He gives in way to easily," observed Sirius.

"We'll have to work on that," said James.

**b Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight,/b**

"Never heard of it," said Remus.

"Me either!"

**b a brown envelope that looked like a bill,/b**

"I don't like bills," stated Sirius.

"Why, you don't have to pay them," said Lily.

"But eventually I will."

"Good point!"

**b and - a letter for Harry./b**

"It's Harry's letter, he's a wizard," exclaimed James, jumping up and down.

"There was never any doubt," said Remus.

"Just the same he got his letter," replied James.

"I'm so proud," Lily said.

**b Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band./b**

"Open it," urged Sirius.

**b No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him./b**

"Poor thing!"

**b Who would?/b**

"Who wouldn't? He's a great person." said Lily.

"A wonderful person," agreed James.

**b He had no friends,/b**

"Me and Remus are your friends, we just don't know where we are," stated Sirius.

**b no other relatives-/b**

"So basically everyone is dead," said Remus.

"Looks like it."

**b he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back./b**

"That's why I don't take books out of the library," stated Sirius.

**b Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:/b**

"Just open it already," whined James.

"Well, if you guys would just shut-up so Remus could read, and then maybe he would have opened it already," snapped Lily.

"You talked too," retorted James.

"Not as much as you!"

"Can I continue please?" asked Remus.

"Yes!"

**b Mr. H. Potter**

**The cupboard under the stairs**

**4 privet drive**

**Little Whinging**

**Surrey /b**

"I love how they get it so personal, to where they say right where they sleep," mentioned Remus.

"I don't, I think it's creepy," stated James.

"If they know where Harry's sleeps, don't you think they should have realized there was a problem by now," questioned Lily.

"Maybe they thought it would be pointless to rescue him now, since he'll be leaving soon anyway," guessed Remus.

**b The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink./b**

"Just like his eyes." observed James.

**b There was no stamp."/b**

"What's a stamp?" asked the Marauders.

"A sticky thing that muggles put on envelopes when they mail their letters," explained Lily.

"Oh!"

**b Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling,/b**

"Don't be nervous, Harry," said Lily.

**b Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion,/b**

"Go Gryffindor," everyone cheered.

**b an eagle, a badger, and a snake /b**

"Kill the snakes, kill the slimy Sltherins," chanted the boys.

"That's mean," scolded Lily.

"Their mean," replied James.

**b surrounding a large letter H./b**

"Just open it already," whined Sirius.

**b"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?"/b**

"What's a bomb?" asked the Marauders.

"A weapon used to kill people," Lily explained.

"Oh!"

**b He chuckled at his own joke./b**

"It was so funny, I forgot to laugh," said Remus dryly.

**b Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter./b**

"I have a feeling he should of opened it in the hall," stated James.

"Me too," agreed Sirius.

**b He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope./b**

"Just rip it open," said Sirius.

"No then it'll rip the letter," stated Lily.

"No it won't," responded Sirius.

"And how do you know?" asked Lily.

"When I got my letter, I was so excited I ripped my letter open, the paper ripped, but then it magically repaired itself," Sirius explained.

**b Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill,/b**

"I hope it's really expensive," stated James.

**b snorted in disgust,/b**

"Yay, it was," cheered James.

**b and flipped over the postcard./b**

"Marge's ill,"

"Good," stated Lily. "I didn't like her anyway.

"Me neither!" stated the boys.

**b he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk..."/b**

"Who would eat a whelk," asked Remus.

"Not me," replied Sirius. "Sounds disgusting."

**b"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"/b**

"Tattle tail," chorused everyone.

b** Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope,/b**

"Stop noticing all the stupid details, and open the letter already," said Sirius.

"Yeah before, that Vernon guy decides to be a jerk and take it from you," added James.

**b when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon./b**

"Too late," said Remus.

**b"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back./b**

"You tell them Harry," said Lily.

**b"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon,/b**

"Hogwarts!" stated everyone

**b shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it./b**

"It's a crime to read other peoples mail," stated Lily.

"Maybe we can report him and said him to jail," Sirius suggested.

"Maybe!"

b **His face went from red to green /b**

"Run for cover, he's going to be sick," screamed Sirius.

b** faster than a set of traffic lights./b**

**"Traffic** lights are what muggles use to organize traffic, and prevent crashes," Lily explained, before the Marauders could even ask.

b **And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was grayish white of old porridge./b**

"Ewwww," moaned everyone.

b**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped./b**

"What's the big deal, it's just a letter," stated James.

"But remember my sister and her husband don't like magic, so obviously they don't want Harry to get his letter." explained Lily.

"Oh yeah!"

b** Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it,/b**

"Mind your own business," scolded Remus.

"Let Harry get it," added James.

**b but Uncle Vernon held it out of his reach./b**

"Maybe Harry will get so made he'll make the letter fly toward him," Lily hoped.

"Hopefully!"

**b Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line./b**

"She read his mail, looks like we got to send her to jail too," said Sirius.

**b For a moment it looked as though she might faint./b**

"She fainted when she read my letter," informed Lily.

"Cool!"

b** She clutched her throat /b**

"She's trying to kill herself," cheered Sirius.

"She may be upset, but I don't think she's that upset," responded Lily.

"That's too bad."

b** and made a choking noise./b**

"**Vernon! Oh my goodness- Vernon!"**

"She might as well have killed herself, the way they're acting," stated Remus.

"Wouldn't bother me none if they did," replied Sirius.

"Me neither!"

**b They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten Harry and Dudley were still in the room./b**

"Now's the time to make a grab for the letter," encouraged James.

"While they're still in shock," added Sirius.

**b Dudley wasn't used to being ignored./b**

"Well then get used to it bud," said Sirius.

**b He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick./b**

"If he had done that to me, he would have gotten a pretty sharp tap back," said James.

**b"I want to read that letter," he said loudly./b**

"If anyone is going to read the letter, its going to be Harry," stated Lily.

**b"I want to read it," said Harry furiously,/b**

"Get a little madder Harry, and that letter will be flying right into your hands," said Sirius.

"Unless he makes something explode instead," replied Remus.

"That's an idea," exclaimed James. "He gets so mad at his aunt and uncle that he blows them up, and then grabs the letter."

"Excellent!"

**b"as it's mine."/b**

"You tell them, Harry," cheered Lily.

b"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope./b

"Don't move Harry, stand your ground," James encouraged.

"Never surrender," added Sirius.

"This isn't war, Sirius," said Lily.

"Doesn't mean I can't say it," responded Sirius.

**b Harry didn't move./b**

"Good," said James.

"He didn't surrender," cheered Sirius.

**b"I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted./b**

"Awww," whined Sirius. "They didn't explode."

"Maybe next time they will."

**b"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley./b**

"Go away, you little brat," ordered James.

**b"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took Harry and Dudley by there scruffs of their necks /b**

"Put Harry done this instant," ordered Lily.

"I wonder how he picked up Dudley," Remus wondered.

"Not sure, he'll probably throw out his back doing it," guessed James.

b and threw them into the hall,/b

"Threw the pig too, must of taken a lot of work," stated Remus.

"Must of!"

**b slamming the kitchen door behind them./b**

Listen through the door," suggested James.

**b Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole;/b**

"Good idea," stated James.

"That's because it was yours," retorted Lily.

"It was still a good idea," replied James.

b **Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between the door and floor./b**

"That's a better spot anyway," stated Sirius.

**b Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address -/b**

"Pretty scary, huh," stated Lily. "They know exactly where he sleeps.

"For them maybe," laughed James. "For us we get to see them get in trouble."

"Yup!"

**b how could they possibly know where he sleeps?/b**

"Magic," stated Remus.

**b You don't think they're watching the house?"/b**

"Maybe, maybe not," replied Sirius.

**b Watching - spying- might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly./b**

"Wizards don't spy," said James.

"It's below us," added Sirius.

**b"But what should we do, Vernon?/b**

"For one stop over-reacting," said Remus.

"And two let him go," continued James.

"I don't see why she wouldn't let him go, it would get him away from her and her family," stated Sirius.

"Many reason," replied Lily. "A couple being she doesn't like magic or Harry, and doesn't want him to do anything that would make him happy."

**b Should we write back?/b**

"Yes, telling them that he's going," said James.

**b Tell them we don't want -"/b**

"I think she miss spoke, you do want him to go," said Sirius.

_**b Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen./b**_

"Maybe he'll fall through the floor," hoped Sirius.

"That would be good," said Remus.

b"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer... Yes, that's best... we won't do anything..."/b

"Not a good idea," stated Remus.

"Actually it is," replied James. "Because if more letters come, the more of a chance Harry will get one."

"Oh yeah!"

b**"But-"/b**

"Petunia knows it's a bad idea," observed Lily.

**b"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"/b**

"You can try whatever you want, even if you don't let Harry go to Hogwarts he will still be a wizard and be able to do magic. He just won't be fully trained," said Lily.

"It would be a lot easier if you just let him go," stated James.

b** That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before;/b**

"Gave Harry his letter," guessed Sirius.

"I doubt it," stated Lily. "Knowing them they probably burned it by now."

**b he visited Harry in his cupboard./b**

"Harry doesn't want to speak with you," retorted James.

**b"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon squeezed through the door./b**

"Never give up, does he?" observed Remus.

"No he doesn't, another true quality of a Marauder," said James proudly.

**b"Who's writing to me?"/b**

"Hogwarts," stated Sirius.

"He can't hear you," said Lily.

"Hey, you never know," replied Sirius.

**b"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly./b**

"Impossible!"

"It had the address right down to where he sleeps," said James.

**b"I have burned it."/b**

"Unfortunately I have to say, I told you so," said Lily.

**b"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."/b**

"Exactly!"

**b"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling./b**

Lily shuddered and James patted her on the back.

"Don't touch me," snapped Lily.

"I was just trying to comfort you," replied James.

"Well don't!"

**b He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile,/b**

"What's the point," said Remus. "Harry knows it's a fake smile."

**b which looked quite painful./b**

"Sound it," muttered Sirius.

**b"Err - yes, Harry -/b**

"He actually called him Harry," exclaimed Lily.

"Something must be up," said James.

"Something most defiantly is up," agreed Sirius.

**b about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking./b**

"That's a first," everyone muttered.

**b you're really getting a bit big for it.../b**

"You're just realizing this now," snapped Lily.

"He's always been a bit too big for it," said James.

b we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."/b

"That would have been nice ten years ago," stated James.

"Now Harry just wants his letter," continued Remus.

"So give it to him," ordered Sirius.

**b"Why?" said Harry./b**

"He's trying to make you forget about that letter," said James angrily. "That's why."

**b"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle./b**

"And I thought he was trying to be nice," stated Sirius.

**b"Take this stuff upstairs, now."/b**

"Don't give in Harry," encouraged Sirius. "Stand your ground."

"Why should he, they already burned the letter, so he can just wait for a new one in his new bedroom," replied Remus.

"Oh yeah!"

**b The Dursley's house had four bedrooms:/b**

"Four," repeated everyone.

"And they couldn't find it in their hearts to spare just one room to my son, their own flesh and blood," complained Lily.

"Guess not," said James. "Horrible isn't it."

"Horrible is an under statement."

**b one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors /b**

"Who cares about visitor, my son should have had a proper room," screeched Lily.

**b(Usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge),/b**

"She doesn't need a room, she could sleep out in the streets for all I care," stated James.

**b one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fir into his first bedroom./b**

"So that's two rooms they could have given to my son," said Lily. "My sister is so dead."

"You would think that if he needs two rooms just for toys, that it would say he has too much. Don't ya think," stated James.

"Way too much," agreed Sirius.

b It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room./b

"Poor baby," sympathized Lily. "They don't even give him any toys."

"What did he do for ten years," asked Remus.

"Doesn't sound like anything to exciting," Sirius answered.

**b He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken./b**

"So he threw all his old, broken in this room so he could say it was occupied, just so Harry couldn't use it," said James.

"Basically!"

"That little brat!"

**b The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog;/b**

"That's mean," scolded Sirius.

"I hope he apologized," stated Lily.

"He shouldn't have to apologize, because it never should have happened in the first place," said Remus.

"Exactly!"

**b in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled;/b**

"Get a life fat-so," exclaimed James.

"Not everything is going to be handed to you on a silver platter," mentioned Lily.

**b there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot /b**

"I don't want to even know what happened to the parrot," stated Remus.

"Me neither!"

**b that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle,/b**

"Not as bad as I thought," said Sirius. "I thought he was going to sit on it or something."

"Not as bad as you thought, he now has a gun, he might try to shoot someone, maybe even Harry," stated Lily.

"Okay, maybe it is bad," replied Remus.

**b which was up on the shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it./b**

"I knew he sat on something," stated Sirius.

**b Other shelves were full of books./b**

"Not that he would actually read them," said James.

"He probably doesn't even know how to read," added Remus.

"Probably not!"

**b They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched./b**

"Told ya," bragged James.

"It wasn't that hard to guess," snapped Lily.

"Don't even start you two," scolded Remus.

"Sorry!" they chorused.

**b From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling /b**

"Suck it up," said James. "Be a man."

"Are you saying that men can't cry," asked Lily.

"No!" answered James.

"But you implied it," retorted Lily.

"Well it's true, it's not very manly to cry," stated Sirius.

"So if our son was to cry, would you think him to be any less of a man," Lily questioned.

"Of course not," came James reply.

**b"But when Dudley cried you said he wasn't being man enough."/b**

"That's different."

"How so?" Lily asked.

"I think what James is trying to say," Remus interrupted. "Is that Dudley was crying for a stupid reason and that instead of whining the kid should take it like a man. If Harry was to cry he would probably have a good reason for it."

"That's exactly what I meant," exclaimed James.

"I guess I see your point, but still..." replied Lily.

**b at his mother, "I don't want him in there... I need that room... make him get out..."/b**

"You don't need that room any more than I need a new broomstick," said James.

"You just got a new broomstick," stated Sirius.

"Exactly!"

**b Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet./b**

"I hate quiet. It's annoying," stated Sirius.

**b Dudley was in shock./b**

"Sounds like an improvement," said James.

"A very large one," agreed Remus.

**b He'd screamed,/b**

"Not the way to get what you want," scolded Lily.

**b whacked his father with his smelting stick,/b**

"I would ground him till he was thirty," stated James.

"Forty," said Remus.

"Fifty," stated Sirius.

"Now your getting a little to extreme," Lily said.

"You would do it to," said Sirius.

"Probably!"

**b been sick on purpose,/b**

"How does that help get your room back?" asked James.

"He was probably to make them feel sorry for him," guessed Remus.

"Well it didn't work did it."

"Nope!"

**b kicked his mother,/b**

"That's going too far," said a shocked Lily.

"Way too far."

**b and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof,/b**

"The poor thing," said Lily.

"You would think they would learn not to give this kid animals after what he did with the parrot," said Remus.

"I know!"

**b and he still didn't have his room back./b**

"I wouldn't have given it back to him either, after the way he acted," stated Sirius.

**b Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall./b**

"Us too," chorused everyone.

"That has had to be the biggest mistake Harry has ever made," said Sirius.

"Yup!"

**b Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly./b**

"Vernon must be cheating on Petunia," guessed Sirius.

"I think they're mad about the letter," corrected Remus.

"That makes sense," replied Sirius. "But I think my idea is better, it has more drama."

**b When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry,/b**

"Were still mad at you," stated James.

"Yeah," agreed Lily. "Don't think this will make up for all the other horrible things you've done to my son."

"Our son," corrected James.

"Whatever!" snapped Lily.

**b made Dudley go and get it./b**

"Good, he needs the exercise," said Remus.

"Not that it would make a difference," added Sirius.

**b They heard him banging him Smelting stick all the way down the hall./b**

"That stick is really getting annoying," said James.

"Tell me about it. I'm going shove that stick all the way up his..." stated Sirius.

"Language, Sirius," scolded Lily.

"Sorry!"

**b Then he shouted, "there's another one!'Mr. H. Potter, the smallest bedroom, 4 Privet Drive -'"/b**

"I really wish he made Harry get the mail," wished James.

"Me too!"

"Run like a bulls-eye, Harry," said Sirius.

**b With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon /b**

"Yeah someone finally decided to kill Vernon," cheered Sirius.

"They mean he made a sound like he was being strangled," stated Lily.

"So, he's not dead?" asked Sirius.

"I'm afraid not."

"Awww," whined Sirius.

"I know exactly how you feel," said James.

**b leapt from his seat and ran down the hall,/b**

"Run, Harry, run," chorused everyone.

**b Harry right behind him./b**

"You can beat him Harry, just a little faster," cheered James.

"He probably can't get passed him, because he takes up the whole hall," said Remus.

"He could always apparate," suggested Sirius.

"He doesn't know he can do that," replied Lily.

"Oh, yeah!"

**b Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him,/b**

"Beating up your own kids," scolded Lily. "Shame on you."

**b which was made difficult by the fact /b**

"That Dudley weighs about only a million pounds," joked Sirius.

**b that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind./b**

"Way to go Harry," everyone cheered.

"Maybe he'll choke him to death," hoped Sirius.

"As delightful as that sounds, it would probably land Harry in jail," said Lily.

"Too bad!"

**b After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick,/b**

"Stupid stick," muttered James.

b Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath,/b

"Little too much of a workout there for ya, big guy," said Sirius.

**b with Harry's letter clutched in his hand./b**

"Darn it!" said everyone.

"Better luck next time!" said Lily.

**b"Go to your cupboard -/b**

"You can't send him back to that cupboard, you already gave him a room," snapped Lily.

**b I mean you bedroom,"/b**

"That's better!"

**b he wheezed at Harry./b**

"Don't you wheeze at my son, that's disgusting," said James.

**b"Dudley - go - just go."/b**

"Dudley got the boot," cheered Sirius.

"Bet he didn't like that," added Remus.

**b Harry walked round and round his new room./b**

"Good, he's developing a plan on how to retrieve the next letter that comes," said James.

**b Someone knew he had move out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter./b**

"Who keeps tabs on this stuff anyway?" asked Lily.

"Don't know," replied Remus. "But they have a lot of free time on their hands."

**b Surely that meant they'd try again?/b**

"They'll try until they get a reply saying whether or not you're going," answered Remus.

**b And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail./b**

"That's the spirit," everyone cheered.

"Never give up, a true quality of a Marauder," added James.

"You already said that," said Lily.

"Well it's an important quality," stated James.

"Only the most important," added Sirius.

**b He had a plan./b**

"I knew it!" bragged James.

"It wasn't that hard to guess," retorted Lily.

"Let's not get into this argument again," Remus interrupted, before he continued to read.

**b The repaired alarm clock rang at six o' clock the next morning./b**

"He's gonna get the post before anyone else gets it," observed Sirius.

"No, duh!"

**b Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys./b**

"No, because then they would know what he was up to," stated Sirius.

"I think we got that," snapped Lily.

"Well, aren't we in a bad mood today," replied Sirius.

**b He stole downstairs /b**

"Cool, get back at them for all the bad things they did to you," cheered Sirius.

"What did you take a stupid pill all of the sudden," asked Lily. "It means he went downstairs."

"Oh!"

**b without turning on any of the lights./b**

"Why did we need to know that?" asked James.

"I told you, the author is obsessed with details," answered Remus.

**b He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first./b**

"Good idea!"

"Why don't they just send a letter with an owl to his window, like they normally do?" questioned Lily. "So that way Harry gets the letter first."

"I don't know!"

**b His heart hammered /b**

"Hearts have hammers?" asked Sirius stupidly.

"Yes, Sirius, they use them to make holes in you chest," Lily answered sarcastically.

"Really?"

"No, they mean he was nervous," replied Lily.

"Oh, you could of just said that."

**b as he crept across the front hall toward the front door -/b**

"AAAAARRRGH!"

"Uh-oh!"

**b Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat -/b**

"EWWWWWW!"

**b something alive!/b**

"Stupid Vernon," said James. "I'll get you for this."

b Lights clicked on upstairs /b

"So much for his plan," muttered Remus.

"I thought it was pretty good too," said James.

"Me too!"

**b And to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face./b**

"Way to go Harry!" everyone cheered.

"I guess your plan resulted in something good after all," said Remus.

"Funny too," laughed Sirius.

**b Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door /b**

"We figured that out," snapped James.

b in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do./b

"Would it kill you, just to let Harry read the letter," asked Sirius.

"Yes!"

**b He shouted at Harry for about half an hour /b**

"You shouldn't have been sleeping in the middle of the floor where everyone could step on you," retorted Lily.

band then told him to go make a cup of tea./b

"Do it yourself!"

b Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen /b

"What happened to not giving in?" asked James.

"He got discouraged," answered Remus.

"Don't give up, they'll be other letters," encouraged James.

"Lots more!"

**b and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap./b**

"Darn it!"

"Better luck next time," said Remus.

"He needs it," said Sirius.

"Lots of it," added James.

**b Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink./b**

"And that's only the beginning of the letter," stated Remus.

"What do you mean," asked Lily.

"I heard about this one kid who didn't respond to the letters because they thought it was a joke. They just kept sending them and sending them, more and more at a time. Until one time when they filled the entire house with letters, and the family finally figured out it wasn't a joke." Remus explained.

"So there's a pretty good chance Harry could snag a letter," questioned James.

"There's an excellent chance," replied Remus.

**b"I want -" he began,/b**

"Don't trail off Harry," said Sirius. "Tell them exactly what you want and when you want it."

"You sound like a protester," stated Lily.

"Cool," exclaimed Sirius. "Maybe I'll become a professional protester when I leave Hogwarts."

"You don't... Never mind," Lily started to say.

b but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes./b

"He should have skipped the speech and headed straight for the letters," said Lily.

"Yup, that's another pointer for the next time a letter finds it way into the house," said James.

"He's bound to get that letter now," agreed Sirius.

**b Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day./b**

"Not setting a good example, are we Vernon." said James. "Skipping work is a naughty habit."

**b He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot./b**

"Hey that rhymes," stated Sirius.

"What?"

"Nail and mail," replied Sirius.

**b"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails,/b**

"Maybe he'll swallow one," Sirius hoped.

"I doubt it," answered Remus.

"Awww, Moony why do you have to go and ruin all the fun all the time," whined Sirius.

"Someone has to keep you in line." responded Remus.

"That's what grown-ups are for," stated Sirius.

"Well there are none here, are there."

**b"if they can't delivers them they'll just give up." /b**

"It's not that easy," stated Remus.

"Have they forgotten that these people can do magic," James asked.

"They'll find anyway they can to get those letters into that house," said Sirius.


End file.
